


CHARMED | H.HJ. + K.SM.

by breadotaku



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Howl's Moving Castle Fusion, BTS is mentioned, Baker Minho, Boy x boy, Day6 - Freeform, Eventual Romance, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Magic, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Yaoi, apprentice felix, but they'll only make little cameos lol, bxb - Freeform, chan is done with everyone's bs, changlix, cursed jeongin, dahyun is the queen because she is my queen, demon jisung, half-blood chan, happy ending bc none of my books will have sad endings, i just can't do that, jeongchan, jihyo runs a pastry shop, kpop, minsung - Freeform, more characters will be added later, nobody is really normal lmao, sana runs a candy shop, seungjin - Freeform, tailor seungmin, twice, warlock changbin, wizard hyunjin, wonpil works at the post office
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2019-10-25 23:25:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 34,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17734667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/breadotaku/pseuds/breadotaku
Summary: ❝ i never fathomed that you would be this kind. ❞❝ not many can fathom much about me, darling. ❞➥ in a land filled with magic and fairytale endings, arun-of-the-mill tailor who seeks adventure encountersa wizard with a ghastly reputation.➥ (or, a howl's moving castle au, but with stray kids andless straight people)➥ A SEUNGJIN FIC.ft. MINSUNG, CHANGLIX, & JEONGCHAN.➥ lowercase intended.





	1. THE TAILOR'S LAMENT

**Author's Note:**

> it's another one i crossposted from wattpad!! hopefully y'all like it lol (ps stan studio ghibli)

**INGARY WAS** a kingdom of life. the streets constantly bustled with traveling shopkeepers pulling their wagons filled with goods, children laughing and playing in the cobbled alleys, and jovial citizens wandering about. if you were lucky, you might even spot a witch or wizard practicing their craft, bright colours and puffs of smoke erupting from their fingertips, wands, or staffs. it was a land of life indeed.

market chipping, a town tucked in between two lush valleys, was no exception. although it was small, it still held the brightness and vibrancy of the rest of the kingdom— if not, even more so. the townspeople were a loud and rowdy bunch, mostly because of the numerous amount of creatures that populated it. 

to the north and the south, there was a vast plain where centaurs roamed, hunting game and bringing it back to market chipping where they would make trades with shop owners. to the east, there was a long river that winded its way through the valleys, home to naiads and nixies alike. these creatures were hauntingly beautiful but relatively peaceful and many frequently habited the town's pub, looking for a warm bed to share for the night. very rarely did they ever settle down with someone, but there were a few men (and women) in market chipping who could proudly boast that their spouse was a water spirit. to the west resided a vast forest that many,  _many_  creatures of myth and legend dwelled in. wood nymphs could usually be seen strolling out of the shrubbery alongside a dwarf or a satyr, eager to talk to the townspeople and explore.

in market chipping, magic folk and humans lived in harmony— a loud, boisterous harmony. and everyone loved it.

but to one man named kim seungmin, the best part of any day was the early morning. the sky was like a canvas marked with brush strokes of magenta and orange. the town that bustled just the night before was now peaceful and quiet, save for a few birds that would flit by, whistling along to whatever song the bards were playing nowadays. the air was light and crisp, causing the boy to shiver as he slipped out of bed, wrapping his threadbare blanket around himself tightly. he made a mental note to himself to use some spare thread to mend the pitiful cloth later on.

entering the small bathroom, seungmin splashed some water on his face while thinking about his upcoming day. he had three orders that he needed to finish and one that he hadn't even started yet since the night prior he had run out of golden lace, so he would have to fetch that when he went to the market later on. drying his skin and brushing his teeth, he realized that he also promised to pick up a book for his friend minho and deliver it to the bakery he worked at, so he would have to squeeze that into his schedule as well. seungmin sighed before leaving the bathroom to enter his bedroom once more to pick out an outfit for his day. looking at his mundane wardrobe, a memory from a few months ago flashed through his mind:

 

_"you're a tailor. why don't you have anything, i don't know, more extravagant? more...colourful?"_

_seungmin rolled his eyes at his best friend who was leafing through his wardrobe beside him. "minho, i've told you: just because i sew clothes for a living doesn't mean that i like doing it. so if choosing not to tailor for myself that means that_ **_my_ ** _clothes are going to be basic and simple, then so be it."_

_minho huffed. "you make terrific clothes for me all the time! why not do something for yourself once in a while?"_

_"because you pay me to. if anything, using my own materials for personal gain would be the end of my shop. i'm not rich and i can't use magic, so not only must i limit the things that i buy, but the whole process is longer as well." seungmin sighed, a faraway look taking over his eyes. "it's honestly tiring. sometimes i just want to get away from it all. don't you?"_

_minho snorted. "the only reason i'd ever leave this town would be because you decided to leave first, and i have to make sure your defenseless behind doesn't get into any trouble."_

_that earned him a laugh and a light slap on the shoulder._

seungmin smiled fondly as the memory faded from his mind. ever since he had moved to market chipping by himself as a mere 17-year-old, minho had immediately helped him get accustomed to the bright and bustling life of the town, as well as the many creatures that inhabited it. four years had passed since they first met, and now the pair were 21 and 23, respectively.

minho was a baker at a small shop that focused primarily on breads of all shapes, sizes, and tastes for rather cheap prices. it was fairly popular (probably since it was only one of two bakeries in town— the other one made pastries and pies). minho had a talent that seungmin often complimented him on: his skill with fire. never once had he made anything burnt or raw in his entire career, and if the townspeople didn't know any better, they'd say that he was a fire wizard. unfortunately for minho, he was not— instead, he was just a regular, magic-less human. but surprisingly, baking wasn't minho's passion. reading was— more specifically, reading spell books. seungmin always found it rather odd since minho couldn't perform magic of any kind, but the elder insisted that it was just a casual interest of his since they reminded him of recipe books.

still, seungmin never missed the dream-filled looks that stayed in his eyes as minho peered at the pages of the dusty tomes, or the slight spring in his step when he received a package that contained a new spellbook. minho could call it a "casual interest" all he wanted, but seungmin knew that his friend longed for a different life: one that was filled with magic and wands and incantations. and honestly, seungmin couldn't blame him— he was guilty of the same thing. 

the brunette snapped out of his thoughts and grabbed a dark blue button up with white slacks.  _there's no point in dwelling on what you can't have,_  he thought to himself as he quickly changed and grabbed his brown leather satchel.  _just be happy with what_ _you've got._

but, like always, a voice resonated in a tiny corner of seungmin's mind.  _keep telling yourself that, seungmin,_ it said,  _like you have been your entire life._


	2. THE TAILOR'S FRIEND

**LIKE MAGIC,**  the town slowly came to life before the tailor's eyes. seungmin passed yawning townspeople groggily setting their stalls up in the streets, waving at a few that he knew and greeting them with a quiet "good morning". after a quick walk (the town was rather small, after all), seungmin arrived at his destination: the package delivery service, which was the largest building in market chipping.

entering through the massive wooden doors, seungmin immediately spotted the person he was looking for. "wonpil!"

the employee turned at the sound of his name being called and broke out into a grin when he saw who summoned him. "why, if it isn't my most frequent customer. here to pick up another book for your friend?"

seungmin nodded. "it's another one by kim namjoon. apparently, he's really popular with the ladies nowadays."

"and the gentlemen as well, it seems."

the tailor chuckled as wonpil handed him the package. "so it seems."

seungmin bid his friend farewell as he left the building, heavy box in hand. minho was a huge fan of the author, kim namjoon, who was a wizard who steadily grew in power over the past few years and was now one of the most revered magic wielders in the world. with the help of his guild, bangtan sonyeondan, he was able to create many new spells and incantations, gaining them immense popularity and many, many fans.

seungmin only knew this because minho never stopped talking about them. ever.

 _speaking of minho, where is he?_ the tailor thought when he arrived at the quaint little bakery. the older boy was nowhere to be found. shrugging, seungmin opened the doors to the small building and let himself in, not minding the large "closed" sign that stood in front. minho would be reprimanded, not him if he got in trouble, so he didn't really care.

almost immediately, the tailor heard a frenzied yell and glimpsed a glob of dough flying at his head. with the grace and expertise of someone who had done this a thousand times, seungmin took a step to the left, just narrowly missing the sticky substance that collided with the door behind him. there stood his best friend, lee minho, covered from head to toe in flour and heaving like a madman. his expression would've been terrifying to anyone else, but seungmin recognized it as minho's "i'm-trying-to-intimidate-you-so-you-can-go-away" face. he quickly dropped it, though, once he saw who was at the door.

"ah! seungminnie!" the baker chirped gleefully, skipping over to his friend. "i'm so glad you're here! i thought you were a stranger coming to steal my bread!"

"minho, everyone in town knows that you are capable of beheading someone with your toast. nobody in their right mind would try to break in here."

"well, still, you can never be too careful." minho dug around in his apron and pulled out a tiny crostini. popping it into his mouth, he asked, "so, you got my book?"

seungmin handed him the box with a nod and minho began to squeal. "just came in today. you got my payment?"

minho stop squealing and sighed before walking behind a large marble counter. "seungmin, seriously, you should ask for more than just breakfast in return for always doing this for me. you always ask for too little! be selfish for once!"

seungmin followed him to the counter where minho had set out plates of eggs and bacon alongside baskets filled with different kinds of bread. "i suppose. i don't need that much, though. just knowing that i can be of assistance to someone makes me happy."

"that is a complete and utter lie and you know it."

the two continued their light banter back and forth as they ate, the conversation switching from seungmin's newest clothing order to minho's recent quiche disaster to park jihyo's brand new hat.

"have you heard? wizard hyunjin's castle moved again," minho commented, popping a piece of bacon into his mouth. "now it's closer than ever to market chipping."

seungmin nearly dropped his fork in shock. hwang hyunjin was a mighty wizard who was infamous for his notorious deeds, his most prominent one kidnapping handsome young men and sucking out their souls. he resided in a large, lopsided stone castle that could move wherever it liked, typically alternating between the vast plain, the distant hills, or a spot next to the river. it never went into the forest or too close to the town, but now, according to minho, it was a little less than a mile away from the outskirts of market chipping. this was alarming to seungmin— he'd heard tales of people setting out to confront or defeat the wizard, but none ever came back. who knew what hyunjin had done to them?

"well, i don't think i have anything to worry about," seungmin joked nervously in an attempt to mask his worry. "i'm not  _nearly_  as handsome as other people in town. you, on the other hand, might not want to go out at night alone."

minho slapped him on the shoulder. "be quiet. you're stunning. give yourself more credit."

seungmin laughed and shook his head before switching topics once more, this time to a faerie that was new in town named lee sunmi. but as hard as he tried, the tailor couldn't stop thinking about hyunjin. what if he came into the town? what if he tried to kidnap him or minho? these worries plagued his mind until he had stopped listening to his friend entirely, only realizing that he had zoned out when the baker snapped his fingers in front of his face.

"seungmin? are you all right?"

seungmin blinked twice. "sorry, what was that?"

"i said, isn't it time for you to go? you have to get new materials before they're all sold out, correct?"

seungmin gasped before whipping around to look at the turquoise clock on the wall behind him (why it was such a random colour in the predominantly grey and white shop, he didn't know). the clock read that it was half-past eight. "you're right! i'm fifteen minutes behind schedule!" he jumped up and began shoving breadsticks into his satchel for later. "thank you for the breakfast, minho! it was lovely!" after giving a quick wave to his friend, the tailor bolted out the door, his destination the fabric store in the market square.

seungmin thanked his lucky stars when he managed to get his hands on lace and chiffon, two things he desperately lacked in his shop. after picking up a few threads and a small pouch filled with buttons, the boy returned home, his coin pouch significantly lighter. there he stayed for the remainder of the day, stitching and sewing without rest in order to catch up on his orders: two silk dresses for the wealthy maidens that lived up the road, one woolen sweater for a man that worked in the package delivery building, and a baby blue suit for a little boy who was going to be the ring bearer in his mother's wedding. personally, seungmin felt that baby blue was a horrid colour on the lad, but he didn't say anything in fear of upsetting the boy's mother— it was  _her_  wedding after all, not seungmin's— but that didn't stop him from cringing every time he saw the bright material. he was satisfied, though, when at the end of the day he had not only completed the suit but one of the dresses as well.

seungmin felt his muscles ache as he stood up and stretched, his bones creaking with his every move. blowing out the few candles that remained flickering in the moonlight, the boy wearily decided that he would bathe when he awoke at dawn since he was too exhausted to even think. he then shuffled from the living room (which doubled as his workspace) into his bedroom and collapsed onto his small bed, the springs creaking beneath his weight. he sluggishly wrapped his blanket around his frame and, in his last moment of consciousness, reminded himself to mend it in the morning before falling into a deep, peaceful slumber.

 

 

in the distance, the castle of stone moved ever closer to market chipping.


	3. THE TAILOR'S WISH & THE WARLOCK'S SPELL

**AFTER GETTING**  a relatively good night's sleep, seungmin immediately left his house the next morning with plans to deliver his tailored pieces to their buyers so that he could finally have enough money to splurge on something special. it had been so long since he could spend money frivolously since most of the time he was barely getting by, but now he would be able to treat himself.

 _maybe i could buy a slice of cream cake from park jihyo's bakery in the market square_ , he thought to himself as he locked up his house and set off down the road.  _or maybe i'll get myself a piece of jewelry from a vendor on the street. who knows? the possibilities are endless!_

by midday, seungmin had successfully delivered both articles of clothing to their clients and was paid quite graciously for the work that he had done. the woman who ordered the baby blue suit that he secretly despised even gave him a small basket of treats! the boy had already devoured about half the basket but regretted nothing— it was free food, after all.

seungmin hummed happily to himself as he walked, greeting various passerby and smiling at a few birds that chirped at him. he was undoubtedly in the best mood he'd been in  _weeks,_  and this day just seemed to get better and better. the sun was shining high in the cloudless sky; the trees rustled with a slight breeze; he hadn't run into the wizard hyunjin like he had feared might happen. everything was perfect.

until he almost collided with someone as he rounded a corner.

 _"woah!"_  the stranger yelped, hopping backward to avoid crashing into seungmin. "my sincerest apologies, mate! i didn't see you there!"

 _yeah, i could tell from the way you nearly trampled me over_ , was seungmin's immediate thought, but he felt pity after seeing the other boy's apologetic face. he was tall and had blondish-brownish hair, a slit in his left eyebrow, and dimples that appeared as he frowned. his voice was thick with an accent— it was apparent that he was from another land. overall he didn't seem like a bad person to seungmin, much less one that would intentionally run someone over.

"it's alright." seungmin gave the stranger a small smile of forgiveness before beginning to continue his way down the street.

"w-wait!" the man cried, stopping the tailor in his tracks. dimple face (which is what seungmin decided to call him in his head) jogged up to him and pulled a piece of paper out of his coat pocket. (the coat, seungmin noticed, was blue and made of...  _is that **denim**?  _he thought in shock.  _what a bold fashion choice! i must take note of this for my future designs!)_ on it was a very detailed sketch of someone's face: he had black hair styled in an undercut, a sharp chin, and dark, glaring eyes. his expression chilled the tailor.  _how could a mere picture strike such fear into my heart?_  "have you seen this man anywhere? anywhere at all?"

seungmin shook his head, keeping his eyes on the photo. he felt as if he had seen the sketch somewhere, but he just couldn't figure out  _where_. "i'm afraid i haven't."

dimple face sighed. "alright. thank you for your time." he then sprinted away, presumably to find other people to ask.

 _well, that was... odd,_ seungmin thought, but just shrugged the encounter off and made his way into the market square, where he immediately felt like a child in minatozaki sana's candy shop (which was conveniently right down the road from his house). he looked around at the various stalls in awe, his coin pouch just begging to be opened. a man was selling pink and blue candy floss; a woman was selling gemstones; and an old lady was advocating for her "illusion in a jar", which was seemingly popular judging from the crowd around her cart. 

seungmin strolled around, eyeing the different stalls and seeing which ones were rip-offs and which ones were quality (he had seen a vendor trying to sell "rare golden thread"— upon closer inspection, it proved to be twine painted yellow). a stall that sold accessories at a cheap price caught his eye and he bought himself a blue teardrop pendant. excitedly, he slipped it on, and it seemed to brighten up his drab outfit almost immediately: a simple white button-up with dark pants. the woman who had sold it had even given him a pair of matching earrings for free! seungmin tried to politely decline the gift, saying that he didn't have pierced ears (which wasn't a lie), but the lady shook her head, adamant that he take it. when he mentioned that he didn't have anyone to give them to, she became even  _more_  persistent.

"a fine young man like yourself shouldn't be lonely," she exclaimed, "not when there are so many fish in the sea! when you find your true love, give these to them. they'll be more than happy to receive such a beautiful gift and even  _more_  so when they see what happens when they put it on." she winked and shoved a  _very_  confused seungmin away so she could serve another customer, calling out to him, "but remember! only give them to your  _true love!"_

 _true love? sure_ , the tailor thought, mentally rolling his eyes as he continued walking around.  _people like that always say stuff like that to keep the customers coming back. there's no way it's true._ he eyed the pendant and the earrings thoughtfully, watching how they seemed to glow in the sunlight.  _they're nice pieces of jewelry, though. i can appreciate that._

as he neared the end of the square, he heard a man's voice calling out to him. "hey, kid. wanna get your wish granted?"

seungmin paused and looked over to see a small figure standing next to one of the stalls. he had black hair styled in an undercut, a sharp chin, dark eyes, and a friendly smile. he wore a tattered black coat that, as soon as he laid eyes on it, the brunette was just itching to get his hands on so that he could fix it up. 

"c'mon, kid. it'll only cost you a couple of coins."

now  _that_  was a tempting offer. seungmin didn't want to spend too much on anything else— after all, he was quite satisfied with what he'd already gotten— so after hearing that it wouldn't cost much, he approached the man (who was oddly familiar— where had he seen him before?). after all, it wouldn't hurt to spend just a couple of coins on something trivial, right?

the man (who seungmin was sure he had seen somewhere before, just not exactly  _where_ ) grinned widely. "so you've got a wish, do ya? well, kid, you've come to the right place." he patted a chair that stood in front of his small stall. the stall itself was rather unattractive and poorly built, almost like it was made in a haste. seungmin sat down, feeling bad for the man. he must not get very many customers.

"yes, please," he said politely, reaching into his pouch to gather a couple of coins and handing them to the man, who sat across from him. "so... what exactly is it that i have to do?"

the man clasped his hands together in an excited manner. "well, just tell me your wish and i'll cast a spell over you to grant it!" he giggled a bit, and seungmin was slightly creeped out. "it can be anything— from riches to love, i can grant it all! just tell me what you want. but it has to come from deep within your heart, or else it won't work. and i'll be able to tell if you're lying! i am a  _very_  experienced wa— erm,  _wizard_. _"_

seungmin was slightly skeptical but went along with it.  _what do i really, truly want?_  like everyone else in the world, seungmin wanted to find love. he also wanted to be rich— that would help out a lot with his profession. he also wanted him and minho to be happy, but at the same time, he wanted them both to always stay by each others' sides, and he knew that the only way for himself to be truly happy was if—

the tailor gasped. "i know what i want," he declared.

the dark-haired man seemed surprised at his sudden statement, but quickly smiled and pulled a small crystal ball out from under the table they were sitting at. "all right. now, close your eyes and place your hands on the ball. concentrate, and make sure that what you're wishing for is from deep within your heart. i won't be able to do anything if it's not something you truly desire."

seungmin complied and thought of his wish, suddenly feeling nervous. his heart began thumping at a higher rate than before, and in an attempt to calm himself he focused on the coolness of the ball, unaware of what was happening around him at that current moment.

 

 

 

the mysterious man across from him stared intently at the crystal ball, waiting. waiting for something to happen that would prove that the wish his customer was making was a real one. he had been deprived of his powers for so long since he was confined in that  _wretched_  room for what felt like an eternity already (in reality, it had only been a couple of weeks), being tended to by that  _dreadful_  man with the dimples. hyunjin must have realized by now that he had gone missing, so if he wanted to escape from the castle forever, he would have to hurry and get money somehow from the people of this tiny town, or else he wouldn't be able to afford any form of transportation.

 _if this stupid curse weren't on me, i'd be a dimension and a half away from here right now!_  he mentally growled but stopped when he saw the crystal ball. it was turning a misty purple, a sign that the brown-haired man's heart was ringing true. it was also one out of two of the things he needed to use his magic.

he grinned devilishly and cleared his throat. "your desire has proven to be true to your heart. but, for the spell to work, i'm going to need your consent. it's just a thing that we... _wizards_...do occasionally." he left out the fact that consent to cast a spell was part of his curse.  _damn you, hyunjin_. "so, do i have your permission to cast this spell and grant your wish?"

"yes, you may."

"okay. now please state your wish, and quickly— we don't have much time."  _before your heart loses its desire and the crystal ball loses its effect,_  he refrained himself from saying.

seungmin hesitated, and unbeknownst to him, the lavender shade of the crystal ball flickered ever so slightly. the person across from nearly screamed— partly out of frustration, partly out of fear. 

 _why is he doubting himself **now**?_ he thought, and quickly said, "hurry, now— the spell must be cast! what is your wish?"

seungmin decided to throw any worries out the window and went for it. "i wish...to lead a life of adventure!"

the man stopped frantically tugging at his hair when he heard this.  _his wish...is an adventure? i could do so many things with that! a dragon attack, a plague, a—_  

he snapped his fingers.  _i know what to do._  "one life of adventure, coming right up."

 

 

 

all seungmin could hear was the man's voice chanting at an insanely high speed, and the crystal beneath his hands seemed to get warmer and warmer. a booming sounded in the skies above.  _was that thunder?_  he thought worriedly.  _the town was bright and sunny just a few minutes earlier! what was going on?_

"...and with these things, a spell has been cast! my magic will make this dark curse last."

the tailor's eyes shot open. "wait,  _curse?"_ he cried, tearing his hands off the crystal ball.

at that very moment, a crackle sounded, and a bolt of lightning shot down from the heavens, striking the ball that seungmin had his hands on just a second before. he looked up to the man across from him with wild eyes. "what  _was_  that? who  _are_  you?"

the man's previously kind smile turned sadistic. "seo changbin, the warlock of darkness. and  _you_  have just been damned to an eternity with the famed wizard himself, hwang hyunjin." he cackled, and thunder sounded behind him in a dramatic fashion that typically would've made seungmin laugh, but not here. not now.

"enjoy your _life of adventure,_ sweetheart."


	4. THE HALF-BLOOD'S TASK

**ONE OF**  the worst parts of having a heightened sense of smell is that when crowds of people surround you, everyone's scent blurs together into one jumbled mess.

bang chan did not enjoy taking care of the warlock that was locked in the castle. he already had enough on his hands to start with, so this added task was not very welcome. but nobody else in the castle was well-suited for the job: jisung was confined to the fireplace unless hyunjin was there (which, these days, was rare), jeongin was frightened by the warlock, and felix was, quite plainly, the worst person to assign the task to. but hyunjin promised chan that he would pay him a hefty sum just to bring food to prisoner three times a day and make sure he never left his room. easy enough, right?

well, until he  _escaped_.

"what the hell," chan grumbled under his breath as he sprinted around market chipping looking for the warlock. "this is not the time for this! i have to get back and take care of jeongin and clean up the big mess that felix made! and now i have to search for this damned warlock, too? i do too much for everyone, seriously..."

the warlock in question was a man named seo changbin. he made quite the name for himself at a very young age, mastering all sorts of dark magic and committing unspeakable crimes. him and hyunjin's crew had a nasty run-in a while back when the house trespassed into the warlock's forest territory, located next to market chipping, and as revenge, changbin tried to attack them on the plains after they had moved. unfortunately for him, he had sorely underestimated hyunjin's prowess and capabilities and was promptly locked up in the house since none of them had a clue as to what to do with him. hyunjin cast a temporary spell on changbin's room that prevented him from leaving and placed a curse on him that allowed him to use his magic but only under certain conditions: he can only place a spell upon someone, preventing him from casting projectile magic; that person must genuinely wish for it with their heart (hyunjin was kind enough to gift the warlock a crystal ball that would emit a purple glow if the wish was real); and the person must give their consent to let him cast the spell. 

hyunjin was supposed to return after a week to renew the spell over changbin's room that kept him trapped in his room, but he never did, and by then the spell had all but worn off, allowing changbin to escape into the nearby town: market chipping.  _still, though, it's not like he could do much,_  chan thought to himself.  _he has virtually no magic at all. and besides, what kind of **idiot**  would let seo changbin cast a spell on them? it's unthinkable!_

needless to say, when chan saw a gigantic bolt of lightning strike down on one spot in the marketplace, he realized that there were, in fact, humongous idiots that existed on the face of the earth.

immediately people started screaming and running away, which was a massive relief to chan since that cleared out a bunch of random scents, and quickly he was able to pinpoint changbin's. rushing over to his location, he found him cackling maniacally next to a boy with brown hair, who chan recognized as one of the people he had shown the warlock's flyer to.  _what the heck? didn't he recognize changbin from the poster?_  he thought frustratedly, but his heart softened when he saw the look of genuine fear on the boy's face.

 _"seo changbin!"_  he yelled, thunder booming above him. changbin whipped around, shock taking over his previously victorious expression. "if you do not wish to suffer any longer, i suggest you surrender now—" chan's eyes flashed dangerously— "or suffer the consequences."

to his surprise, the warlock laughed hysterically. "go ahead and take me, half-blood!" chan flinched at the nickname. "the damage has already been done. i may not have escaped, but i did something  _much_  worse." he glanced at the trembling male beside him. "isn't that right, boy?"

chan's brown orbs fell on him. "what did he do to you?"

"h-he...cursed m-me to an eternity w-with...the w-wizard hyunjin..." he stuttered out, and chan's eyes widened.

he faced changbin and marched over to him. grabbing his wrist in an iron grip (another perk of his bloodline), he spat, "we'll deal with this at the castle. you—" he planted his gaze on the shuddering boy— "what's your name?"

he gulped. "kim seungmin."

"well, kim seungmin, my name is bang chan. now, follow me— i'm gonna see what i can do about that curse of yours."

 

**❂❂❂  
**

 

at first, seungmin seemed hesitant walking alongside changbin. "can't he just escape again?" he whispered to chan when they were out on the plains. "after all, you're only holding onto him with one hand..."

"i can hear you, you know."

"don't worry about it, kid," chan shrugged. "at this moment, he's currently powerless. he's as weak as he is short. i could snap him like a twig right now."

"hey! i heard that, too!"

"be quiet or i will seriously consider snapping you in half." that shut up the warlock, and the rest of the walk was silent. that is, until they neared hyunjin's castle.

"wait a moment." seungmin stopped walking. "i thought you were going to help me get  _rid_  of the curse, not lead me  _to_  it!"

chan stopped abruptly causing changbin to trip and shoot him a deadly glare that said "as soon as i get my powers back, you're the first person i'm gonna kill". "i am. i work with him in his castle. what better way to get rid of the curse than go directly to the source himself? he's a very skilled wizard, you know."

"but doesn't he kidnap people and steal their hearts?"

chan snorted.  _is that what's going around nowadays?_  "well, i guess you're gonna come with me and find out."

the brunette's eyes widened and he slowly backed away, but before he could get very far, chan started to laugh. "i'm just messing with you. of course, he doesn't kidnap people! if he did, i— along with everyone else in that castle— would already be dead."

seungmin paused. "wait, there are more people in there?"

"but of course. can't have hyunjin getting sad and lonely, now, can we? now come on, or we're not going to make it there before dark."

chan could practically see the gears turning in seungmin's head, contemplating whether or not to go along with it. but in the end, he just sighed and said, "...okay," and trailed after him and changbin hesitantly. 

as they continued their walk, chan couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. how exactly would they rid the boy of his curse? neither he nor jeongin were magic users, changbin was ridiculously stubborn and refused to help, felix was too inexperienced and his spells were unpredictable, and hyunjin was off somewhere doing something secretive like always. so that left only one person that  _might_  be able to help them. someone who knew a great deal about curses since he was cursed himself.

chan groaned internally.  _han jisung, you'd better help us figure this out, or i swear to the queen of ingary that i'm going to dump a bucket of water on you._

 


	5. THE TAILOR'S TROUBLES

**SEUNGMIN NEVER**  realized how large hyunjin's castle was until he stood right outside its massive stone walls. it seemed to rise into the clouds, towering over them in all its menacing glory. it almost didn't seem real— but then again, in this world, just about anything was possible.

chan stepped up to one portion of the wall and knocked four times. "felix, it's me. open up." at first, seungmin stared at him confusedly—  _why in the world is he talking to a wall?_ — but when a small chunk of the wall suddenly swung open, he realized that it was a secret door.  _ah. that makes more sense_. he followed chan and changbin inside, the stone door slamming shut behind them which made him jump.

gazing around, seungmin found that the interior of the castle wasn't as horrifying as the outside, although it  _was_  horrifyingly messy. glass bottles were strewn across the top of a wooden table that sat to the side of the room; piles of books lay scattered across the floor, which was carpeted in an odd green-and-red mandala design; feather quills and various writing utensils lay next to them, their ink bleeding out and staining the carpet with a giant dark blob. a fireplace stood in front of them, its contents merely a small glowing flame, one tiny log, and a significant amount of ash. in front of the fireplace was a plush magenta chair that seungmin desperately wanted to sink into so that he could rest— he had been through a lot for one day, after all— until, upon further inspection, he found that a chunk of the chair had been torn off.

 _"felix!"_  chan yelled, and it was then that seungmin took note of the presence of another boy in the room. he was currently hiding underneath the table, partially shrouded by the clutter, but his bright orange hair made him stick out like a sore thumb. releasing his grip on changbin, chan marched over to him and yanked him out from under the table and in front of a slightly apprehensive seungmin (who had no idea what to expect from the people in hyunjin's castle at this point— they were all so... _odd)_.

"lee felix," chan seethed through his teeth, which caused the orange-haired boy to cower in fear. "what did i  _specifically_  tell you  _not_  to do in my absence?"

felix hesitated. "...use magic?"

"and  _why_  did i say that?"

"...because i mess up the house every time i do?"

chan nodded and seungmin had a feeling that he was the motherly figure in the castle. "exactly. i'm letting you off with a flick since we have a guest, but if this happens again..." chan drew a line across his throat menacingly and felix gulped.

"yes si—  _ouch!"_  in the blink of an eye, chan delivered a sharp flick to the boy's forehead, leaving him to crouch on the floor with his head in his hands. "mother of  _god_ , did you have to do it so hard?"

"i can do it again if you'd like."

this caused felix to quickly stand and shake his head. "n-no thank you, i'm fine! i mean, i'm not fine, but—" he cut himself off when he noticed seungmin staring at him from behind chan. "who's that?"

chan rubbed his face with a tired expression. "this is the guest i was talking about. his name is seungmin. you may get acquainted with him while i clean up the house." he zipped away in a flash, leaving seungmin to gawk at his inhuman speed.  _what the hell_ ** _are_** _these people? they're not normal!_

felix bounced over to him and the tailor could feel the excitement radiating off of him. "hello there, mate! the name's felix! i'm a wizard apprenticing here at hyunjin's castle!"

seungmin nodded, still in shock from chan's speed. "my name is seungmin," he responded quietly, "and i'm a tailor in the nearby town."

felix cocked his head to the side. "which town? the door leads to a few different—"

"alright, i'm done," came the voice of chan who had suddenly appeared next to seungmin, effectively frightening the tailor and making changbin (who had been silent the whole time) snicker slightly. felix snapped his mouth shut, cutting off whatever he was about to say. "there was hardly any mess upstairs, thankfully, but it took me quite a bit of time to clean the sitting room. the kitchen was a wreck— presumably because you were trying to make more potions— so, i had to throw away nearly everything you made."

felix frowned. "how do you know the mess in the kitchen was  _me?_  what if it was jeongin? he's a  _very_  messy eater, you know!"

"you  _must_  be joking!" and with that, the two commenced their bickering once more. but seungmin wasn't paying attention to them. thoughts were running through his mind at a high speed: the first being chan's insane pace. there was no doubt in seungmin's mind that he wasn't wholly human: he was as fast as lightning and was extremely strong, yet he had a seemingly normal complexion and hadn't exemplified any other odd traits.  _so what could he be?_  secondly, who was this "jeongin" that they kept referencing? could he be an ordinary human like himself?  _well, judging from the rest of the lot in this place, the chances are slim to none,_  the tailor thought to himself grimly. finally, how could chan and felix be so calm when a world-class warlock (who could potentially kill them all)  _was just standing there in their foyer?_

"i'm sorry, but... i thought we were here to find someone named jisung?" seungmin cut in, successfully stopping the argument going on in front of him. chan nodded slightly and opened his mouth, but a new voice piped in instead.

"i have a  _visitor?"_  someone screeched in a high-pitched voice, and seungmin winced slightly.  _who said that?_  he looked around the room but the only people there were felix, chan, and changbin (who had collapsed onto the maroon chair looking bored out of his mind). "hey. i'm down here!" seungmin looked to the floor confusedly. "no, not there, dummy. over  _here!"_

suddenly, chan threw a rock (where he got it from, seungmin didn't know) in the fireplace and a yelp was heard. "stop teasing him, jisung," he said with an irritated look, "unless you want me to put you out."

seungmin looked towards the fireplace and watched as the previously small flame quickly jumped up, growing taller and brighter. "no! please don't put me out! i'm sorry!"

the tailor gaped. "wait... jisung is...the  _fire?"_

changbin groaned from his spot on the chair. "no shit. took you long enough to figure out."

seungmin turned to glare at him before remembering that changbin could probably snap his neck in a flash and quickly turned back to chan. "um... how is a fire supposed to help me?"

"well, jisung here—" he gestured to the fire— "is cursed, just like you. he can't leave the castle at all and is confined to the fireplace. he can only leave when hyunjin is around, but even then he can only wander around the house."

"wait, how can he move if he's just a flame?" seungmin asked confusedly.

"jisung's not just a flame!" felix grinned and crouched down next to the fireplace. sticking his hand inside, he said, "jisung's a fire demon! isn't it cool?"

hysterical cries erupted from the fire. "fe... _felix!"_  jisung cried, and the flame frantically swished from side to side. "stop that! that tickles!" felix snickered and continued to wave his hand around in the fire, which caused jisung to roar with laughter. "stop!  _stop!_  i'm a scary, powerful fire de—  _ha ha!"_

"felix!" chan snapped and said boy removed his (somehow unscathed) hand from the fire, still chuckling. "we can't just play around all day! we have a job to do. we need jisung's help."

the firelight dimmed as jisung calmed down. "well, it's not like i have anything better to do. what do you require of my services?"

"we need your help trying to break a curse." at this, jisung seemed to perk up. "changbin cursed seungmin here when he escaped into the town, and now he's confined to an eternity with hyunjin. he won't tell us anything and i can't properly interrogate him because hyunjin said that we had to treat him with care. still wondering why he said that," chan muttered at the end.

jisung hummed in thought. "well, it's going to take me some time to figure anything out with a lack of information. do you know if the curse has kicked in yet?"

all gazes shifted to the warlock who was sitting comfortably in the chair, eyes closed, palms folded on his abdomen. upon hearing the silence, he peeked an eye open to find everyone staring at him. sighing, he relented. "he has about twenty-four hours, give or take a few hours. when i cast the spell, my lightning didn't hit him, which caused the curse to delay its effects and lessen its power. but believe me, by noon tomorrow, it will begin." he shut his eyes once more. "that's all i'm telling you. you're on your own for the rest of it."

everyone's jaws dropped at the new information. "what the hell! why didn't he tell me all of this before?" chan exclaimed.

jisung went quiet. "so, sungie, do you think you'll be able to break it by tomorrow?" felix asked hopefully.

"...i'm dreadfully sorry, but no," jisung responded, his flames dimming drastically. "it's impossible to break a curse in a mere day. typically, curses take months— sometimes  _years_ — to break. there's no way i'd be able to do it in such a short amount of time."

seungmin felt devastated at this. he didn't want to leave behind everything he loved for all of eternity! because of his selfish wish for a new life filled with adventure, he would now have to give up everything he had known to live with hwang hyunjin— the very same wizard whose stories and presence had terrorized his town for years— and his band of oddities. he was terrified, to say the least.  _if only i weren't so selfish!_  he thought to himself in despair.  _if only i were happy with the life i had before! if i hadn't desired more, i never would've gotten stuck in this predicament! and now, there's no way to escape— not for a long, long time._

"ah," jisung sighed, "i could shorten the time i need if i just had two things! two small, simple things!"

"what do you need?" felix asked. "hyunjin's got practically everything in the castle. that's why i can practice all the time without fear of wasting his materials!" that earned him a whack on the head from chan.

"well, firstly, i need to be in my human body, and without hyunjin, i'm unable to switch forms." felix frowned at that. "and secondly, hyunjin doesn't have  _everything_. for instance, he doesn't have kim namjoon's brand new spellbook that was recently released. i'm sure that there's something useful for seungmin's curse in there somewhere!"

seungmin's eyes widened as felix groaned. "there's only twenty-one copies of that in the whole  _world!_  how are we supposed to get our hands on something like that?"

"actually," seungmin spoke, a small spark of hope blossoming in his chest, "i know someone who has one."

everyone's heads whipped around to look at him. even changbin's eyes shot open and he turned around in his seat to stare at the tailor. "who?" he asked incredulously. "who could possess such a rare book in their hold?"

"my friend minho. he likes to bake."

the entire castle went into a frenzy. chan gripped seungmin's shoulders and shook him wildly. "we must go to him now! where does he reside?"

"in market chip—" before he could finish his sentence, seungmin found himself hoisted onto chan's back and he quickly grabbed hold of his arms to steady himself. chan turned to face felix, who was jumping around excitedly, a huge smile on his face.

"felix!" he stopped jumping and stood still. "we're going to go retrieve the book. stay here and guard the castle. jeongin is upstairs, so take good care of him. get him anything he needs, whether it be a blanket or food or more pillows or—"

"we get it, mate. you want me to tend to your boyfriend." felix waved his hand impatiently as a shocked look appeared on chan's face.

"he's not my— never mind. we're not going to discuss this now. anyways—" he leaned down to whisper into felix's ear— "i need you to watch changbin. keep an eye on him and try to get close to him. we need as much information as we can get on seungmin's curse."

felix drew back and saluted. "you can count on me!"

chan smiled. "good. we'll be off, now." and with that, he zipped out the door, an extremely unprepared seungmin on his back who screamed and held on for dear life.


	6. THE BAKER'S BOOK

**LEE MINHO**  wasn't having a pleasant day. firstly, business was slow at the shop, and a lack of customers meant a lack of money. secondly, seungmin hadn't shown up for their daily breakfast together, which left minho to wallow in his loneliness by himself. thirdly, even his typically perfect baking wasn't going so well. he had tried to bake a baguette out of dough scraps and the result was a blackened, charred substance which he dared not eat.

 _something is wrong,_ he thought to himself,  _but what?_

it was at that moment the door to the bakery burst open. minho, not expecting anyone to show themselves in his shop, was immediately caught off guard. purely out of reflex, he grabbed the nearest item (a bowl the size of his head) and flung it as hard as he could at the intruder. he heard a familiar voice cry, "chan, duck!" and it was then that he got a good look at the person (or people, rather) that had entered the bakery.

"seungmin!" minho chirped in delight, skipping over to his friend as if he hadn't tried to murder him with a bowl just a couple seconds prior. "where were you today? i was— wait, who is  _that?"_

a silver-haired man was calmly crouched on the floor, minho's bowl in his hands.  _did he catch that?_ minho thought in awe as the man stood up and stuck out his hand.

"bang chan. it's a pleasure to meet you. i assume you're lee minho?"

minho shook his hand tentatively. "yes, that would be me." he faced seungmin. "is something the matter? what's going on?"

the look on his friends face told him that there was, in fact, a pressing matter to discuss, but before he could say anything, chan jumped in. "i'll make this short and simple for you: your friend's cursed and we need a certain spellbook to cure him. he told us you have kim namjoon's limited edition spellbook, correct?"

minho's jaw dropped as he tried to process all of the information that had been given to him. "y-yes, i do, but... wait, how did this all happen?"

"there's no time to explain," chan stated grimly. "your friend doesn't have much time left. now if you could just give us the book, we'll be on our wa—"

 _"hold on just a moment!"_  minho exclaimed. "seungmin, can we talk for a second?" without waiting for a reply, the baker grabbed his friend by the wrist and dragged him to the back room of the bakery, away from a protesting chan, only stopping when he was sure they were out of earshot. "tell me everything. and don't you  _dare_  leave out a single bit, kim seungmin."

and seungmin did. he told him about the hideous suit and going to the market and running into chan. he told him about the mysterious vendor who turned out to be changbin and getting the curse placed onto him. he told him about how he was taken to hyunjin's castle, meeting the lively apprentice and the eccentric demon, and finally being sent to retrieve the spellbook. the pair had been best friends for many years now, and they both knew that they could trust each other with anything in the world, no matter what it was. for this reason, seungmin didn't show any signs of hesitation when he spoke to minho, and shared everything with him.

by the end of it, the baker was utterly dumbfounded.  _how in the world is seungmin so calm about this?_  he thought and voiced that thought to his friend.

"i'm not quite sure," seungmin shrugged. "i don't think it's completely sunk in yet that i'm headed to my imminent doom."

"no! don't think like that!" minho cried, slapping his friend on the shoulder. "listen here, seungmin: i'm going to do whatever it takes to save you, even if that means fighting hwang hyunjin himself. speaking of fighting, that seo trash bin better be ready for when i get my hands on him—!"

despite the bleak situation, seungmin let out a laugh. minho's antics never failed to amuse him when he was feeling down. "you would get pummeled in half a second, minho."

"that's fine. it would be for a good cause." this made seungmin smile. "now, come on. let me fetch the book and we can go."

seungmin's smile faltered. "wait... 'we'?"

"well, you can't expect me to  _not_  go with you. after all, who's going to save you from the horrors of hyunjin's castle or say something when people walk all over you?"

"i can do that mysel—"

"no you cannot," minho quickly cut him off, folding his arms over his chest. "you're going to need my help if you want to make it out of there alive. besides, do you think that i'm just going to put brand new— not to mention extremely rare— spellbook in the hands of strangers?" he shook his head. "absolutely not. so, whether you like it or not, i'm coming with you."

"but—" 

it was too late, for minho had already marched out of the room, yelling, "chan! i'll get the book for you, and then we can leave straightaway for hyunjin's castle."

chan looked at him confusedly. "wait, are you coming with us?"

"that is correct." minho reached under the countertop to where his spellbooks were tucked inside of a cupboard.  _hidden in plain sight_ , he always told seungmin when he questioned him about his not-so-secretive hiding place.  _nobody would ever guess that my most prized possessions were there all along!_

behind him, he heard chan say, "does he have any idea what he's getting himself into?"

"you can't stop him when he's made his mind up about something," came the voice of seungmin. "he's quite stubborn. it's best to just let him come along."

chan sighed. "alright. we'll see what hyunjin has to say about this when he gets back from... well, wherever he is." he gestured to the door when minho turned back around, the large leather tome safely tucked in his arms. "let's go, you two. the sooner we return, the sooner jisung can begin working on the cure. plus, seungmin, you must be exhausted right now." he looked outside, and orange rays of light filled the bakery. "it will be getting dark soon. i'll set up a place for you two to sleep once we get back, and everyone can get situated." he sighed, muttering under his breath, "if hyunjin doesn't expand the castle this time, i will seriously knock some sense into him."

seungmin glanced at minho. "are you sure you want to do this? i don't want you to be in danger."

minho smiled reassuringly. "seungmin, we're going to be staying in an infamous wizard's castle with a warlock of darkness, a problematic apprentice, a literal demon, an unseen force, and whatever chan is. how dangerous can it be?"

seungmin chuckled as chan spoke once more. "let's go, kids. we have to go on foot since i can't run while carrying more than one person. also, my muscles ache, so i don't want to carry anyone anyway."

minho frowned. following chan outside, he said, "what do you mean by 'kids'? i'm pretty sure i'm older than you!"

"and just how old are you?" chan asked, a playful tone in his voice.

"twenty-three."

chan hummed. "yes, it seems that i'm older than you by a whole one hundred and one years."

seungmin and minho's jaws dropped to the ground. "you're  _one hundred and twenty-four?"_  seungmin exclaimed in disbelief.

chan suddenly doubled over in laughter, much to the baker and tailor's confusion. straightening up, he gasped, "of course not! how strange would that be?" he shook his head, a large grin painting his face. "quite bizarre. unimaginable. nearly impossible. simply ridiculous. there isn't a being alive who's that old." he turned to look at the duo behind him, a mysterious twinkle in his eye. "or is there?" he then turned back around and continued walking, a slight bounce in his step that wasn't there before.

 _...he's an odd one,_  minho thought.  _odd indeed._

 

❂❂❂

 

minho had barely any time to marvel at the massive structure before him because as soon as they arrived, chan zipped over to the stone wall and knocked on it harshly. "felix, we're back." when there was no response, chan frowned and tried again. "felix." again they were met with nothing but silence, and chan groaned in frustration. "i swear to the queen—  _felix, open the door!"_

 _what door?_  minho thought, and as if on cue, a small portion of the stone wall swung open. chan marched inside, clearly irritated, with seungmin right behind. minho was about to follow when a loud cry was heard.

_"what the hell?"_


	7. THE APPRENTICE'S DUTY

**LEE FELIX**  was an amateur wizard from a foreign kingdom who had moved to ingary four years ago in search of a powerful wizard that would be able to help him harness his magical powers. but, since he wasn't familiar with the land, he hadn't a clue where to start looking. luckily for him, he found a castle in the middle of nowhere, and discovered that a  _very_  powerful wizard inhabited it! he was nearly killed on the spot (which was how he met chan), but after determining that he wasn't a threat and hearing his story, they agreed that he could stay and learn magic under hyunjin. in hindsight, entering a mysterious castle wasn't the smartest thing to do, but felix always used the excuse "i was only seventeen!" to back up the actions of his past self (not realizing that normal seventeen-year-olds still wouldn't have done what he did).

but the problem was that hyunjin left the castle often and for long periods at a time, especially as of recent: he had been gone for about two weeks now, which was why changbin was able to escape. he hadn't returned in time to renew the spell on his room. it had been ages since felix had gotten a proper lesson, so he resorted to teaching himself, which usually led to a mess of gigantic proportions (much to chan's annoyance, as he was the caretaker of the house). but that never deterred him. all felix wanted was to be able to make his friends proud of him, and if that meant going through dozens of failed attempts before finally getting a potion right, he would do it. although, it would be much easier if hyunjin were around to give him a proper lesson.

 _i hope he comes back soon,_  felix thought dismally. as much as he loved the other people— er, sort-of people— in the house, hyunjin was desperately needed for certain things. chan took care of jeongin the best out of anyone, but if hyunjin wasn't back soon, things could get deadly. and jisung was lots of fun to be around, but if hyunjin wasn't there, he couldn't shift into his human form. and without hyunjin's presence, changbin would escape—

 _holy lamingtons, where_ ** _is_** _changbin?_  felix thought, looking around the foyer in a panic. one moment he was sleeping, and now he was gone!  _chan is going to kill me for real this time!_  he thought, sprinting around the castle yelling, "changbin! changbin!"

he checked their sad excuse for a kitchen first before running upstairs to where a hallway of rooms was located. he threw open different doors— his bedroom, the bathroom, chan's room— while making sure to not touch hyunjin's door, before stopping in front of their old storage room. it was where they threw all of their old junk or trinkets that they had collected over the years. it was also changbin's temporary room.

 _there's no way he would just get up and return to his room,_  felix thought with a shake of his head.  _it's practically an admittance of defeat, and if i've learned anything the week he's been here, it's that he does_ ** _not_** _admit defeat. but i guess it doesn't hurt to check._  and with that, he slowly pushed the door open and poked his head inside of the pitch-black room. "changbin?"

he was surprised to hear some shuffling and a voice growl, "what the fuck do you want?"

"oh! i just... um... didn't know where you went." he stood there in silence for a few moments longer before asking, "can i come in?"

"no."

"okay." felix shifted uncomfortably. he wasn't used to people rejecting his offers of companionship. changbin may be a dangerous warlock, but even dangerous warlocks needed friends. "i'll be right outside if you need me. don't hesitate to holler if you need anything!"

after getting no response, felix sighed and shut the door quietly.  _he's so cold. too bad jisung is stuck in his fire form, or else we could surely make him warm up to us._  he stood outside the door for a bit longer, wondering how chan was able to take care of him all this time when he suddenly remembered chan's request.

 

**_"i need you to watch changbin. keep an eye on him and try to get close to him. we need as much information as we can get on seungmin's curse."_ **

 

 _oh, yeah!_  felix thought.  _i promised him i wouldn't let him down!_  with newfound resolution, felix dramatically kicked the door open and marched straight into changbin's room.

"what the hell are you doing?" changbin exclaimed, clearly shocked. "i thought i told you not to come in!" felix heard more rustling, but due to the darkness, he was unable to see what the warlock was doing.

felix shrugged and felt around for the bed. "well, you seem pretty lonely here, so i figured that i'd keep you company!" he grinned when he found the mattress and collapsed onto it, but was surprised to find that it was somewhat lumpy and hard. "what is this bed made out of? it feels like i'm laying on iron poles!"

"those are my legs," changbin seethed out between his teeth, and felix hurriedly stood up.

"oh. my bad."

felix didn't need to use magic to feel the annoyance seeping out of the older boy, and quickly tried to diffuse the situation. "so, um, why's your room so dark?"

"i like dark. it matches my soul and the essence of my being."

 _whoa. calm down, edgelord._  "well, i can't see a thing in here."

"good."

felix frowned. he wasn't the biggest fan of the darkness and couldn't for the life of him fathom why changbin would like it. "staying in darkness all the time will make you feel even lonelier. hold on, i'll turn on a lamp." changbin protested against this, threatening to curse him beyond belief, but felix knew that they were empty. he was powerless, after all. he let out a noise of satisfaction when he found several oil lamps in the heaps of garbage in the room and turned them all on at once, causing a soft glow to fill the room. "there we go!" he turned around with a smile that was brighter than the light and faced changbin, whose facial expression was nothing short of sour. "see? isn't that much better?"

"i'm going to slit your throat unless you leave," changbin hissed, and felix jumped slightly.  _he's so scary!_  "turn off those godforsaken lights and get the hell out of my room!"

the male immediately complied and tripped over his own feet trying to exit. heart pounding, he shut the door with a sigh.  _so much for trying to get close to him._

he trudged down the stairs and let out a yelp when he noticed jisung's sorry state in the fireplace: the poor demon was reduced to the smallest of flames, and he was clinging to life on a tiny piece of wood surrounded by a sea of ash.

"about time!" he complained. "i've been calling you for ages! i'm going to die if you don't hurry up and give me more kindling!"

"sorry!" felix said, and rushed to grab the extra logs they kept in the castle for when jisung ran out of wood. "i was talking to changbin."

jisung's flame instantly shot up— from interest or the fresh wood, felix couldn't tell. "you were talking with  _changbin?"_

the foreign boy nodded. "well, i tried to. he's not really a conversationalist. or a people person."

jisung snorted. "i noticed. why would you try to strike up a conversation with him anyway? he's the exact opposite of you!"

felix slumped onto the maroon chair. "chan wants me to get close to him so i can gather more information about seungmin's curse. but it's just so hard!" he groaned and pulled his face downward. "how am i supposed to befriend someone like  _him_ _?"_

"give it some time. i'm sure he'll come around."

"how can you be so sure?" felix asked, hopelessness trickling into his voice, but before jisung could answer, the door burst open. felix whipped around, immediately taking on an offensive stance as a cloaked figure stepped into the castle.  _nobody should know about the castle's secret entrance,_  he thought,  _except for the residents! so who is_ ** _that?_**

the figure chuckled, and felix's muscles tensed. "what's so funny?" he barked.

"felix, didn't i teach you to go straight into a defensive position when there's an intruder?" the man removed his hood, and felix gasped. "you're terrible at controlling your magic, so it's best to save your attacks until you get better at it."

 _"hyunjin!"_  felix cried, and leaped into his friend's arms. "you're finally back! i can't believe it! so much has happened that i need to tell you about!" he broke away with a pout. "and the only reason i can't control my powers is that you're never around to teach me! please tell me you're staying longer than a few days this time."

hyunjin smiled, a sight that his friend had dearly missed. "i won't be leaving for quite a while."

felix cheered happily as jisung's flame shot up with excitement. "hyunjin? oh, thank heavens! i can finally transform!" felix watched as jisung wiggled around in the fireplace, his flame growing larger and larger, morphing into the shape of a body. the room grew unbearably hot for a split second and heat waves clouded felix's vision before the temperature suddenly dropped and a puff of smoke drifted out of the fireplace. the two wizards coughed and hyunjin blew the cloud away with a spell, and once it had cleared, there was jisung standing there in all his glory.

felix laughed. "go put on some clothes, you fool!" a side effect of jisung switching forms was that his clothing would disintegrate due to him turning into a literal ball of fire, so when he would turn back into a human, nothing would be on him. jisung never seemed to have a problem with that, though— he didn't have much shame to begin with, which often led to his friends' embarrassment.

jisung put his hands on his hips and jutted out his chin in defiance. "give me one good reason why i should do that."

 _"felix, open the door!"_  came a voice from outside, and felix shuddered. it was chan's voice, and he sounded quite irritated, which was never good. but before he could answer, hyunjin had already run to the door, clearly eager to see his friend again.

"wait, hyunjin!" jisung panicked, knowing that chan wasn't the only one out there. "let me get dressed first!"

but it was too late. hyunjin pushed the stone door open with glee to find chan standing there with two other people behind him. as the silver-haired male's eyes widened in shock, felix tried his very best to contain his laughter. what a sight he must be seeing now! hyunjin, who had suddenly shown up again; jisung, who was butt-naked; and the house, which was as clean as when he left. felix was ninety-nine percent sure that that last fact was the most shocking of all, and so he wasn't surprised at all when chan blurted out:

_"what the hell?"_   
  



	8. THE TAILOR'S REALIZATION

**SEUNGMIN DIDN'T**  know what he expected to see after chan's exclamation, but a clothesless man standing in the living room desperately trying to cover himself up (while felix stood beside him laughing hysterically) was not it. the man's hair was messy and light brown and his skin shone with a honey-ish glow. his eyes were a bright he had round and puffy cheeks, making him seem almost childish, but when seungmin let his eyes drift slightly lower, he found that the rest of his body definitely did  _not_  belong to a child. the male's abdomen was extremely toned, making the tailor feel quite self-conscious about his own stomach (to which minho always assured him was fine, but he felt that he was a little chubby). he dared not look any lower, fearing that his face would combust due to the blood rushing to his cheeks. the sight in itself was almost enough to distract him from the extremely handsome man that had answered the door.

almost.

"seungmin, why'd you stop?" minho asked his friend who stood frozen in the doorway, but after taking one glance inside, he let out a small sound of surprise and instantly turned around. this seemed to get the bare man's attention as he stared at minho, his brown eyes widening.

"chan!" he squeaked, rushing to hide behind felix. "why didn't you tell me you were bringing someone else with you? a little warning would've been appreciated!"

"we didn't plan for him to come along!" chan shot back. "besides, how were we supposed to know that this was going to happen?"

"i don't know! i thought you'd be able to smell me in my human form or something!"

"imbecile, i can't smell through the castle walls!"

as the pair traded off remarks, seungmin let his gaze fall upon the mysterious man who had opened the door. he was staring at the naked man and chan with a look nothing short of delighted.  _could he be the so-called jeongin they keep mentioning?_  seungmin thought to himself in wonder. the man was quite tall— taller than any of the others— and had sleek brown hair that paired quite nicely with his light skin. his plump lips looked like they could belong to a model, and while that in itself was stunning enough, seungmin couldn't help but let out a slight gasp when he saw his eyes. they were a bright green, almost piercing, and shone with such an inexplicable light that seungmin almost had to look away.

but, when the man locked eyes with him moments later, the tailor found that he could not.

"ah! jinnie, i didn't even tell you yet!" felix said, bounding over to the two of them. the man continued to stare, his gaze never faltering, and seungmin felt as if his eyes were boring into his soul. "this is seungmin! he's here because—"

"he's cursed," the green-eyed man spoke, and seungmin nearly melted on the spot.  _why the heck is this guy so infuriatingly attractive?_  "i could tell from the moment i laid eyes on him." his eyes finally flickered away from the tailor, and the tailor let out an internal sigh of relief. "this is a powerful spell. what happened while i was gone?"

felix grabbed hold of his pant leg, bunching it up in his hand. "well... you might have to sit down for this." he glanced at the tailor. "seungmin, you and...that guy—" he pointed at minho, who still refused to turn around— "can come on inside. chan will find you a place to rest. it's getting dark out."

seungmin nodded and rugged on minho's coat, leading him into the castle (and making sure not to look in the direction of the clothes-less man in the foyer). he spared one last glance towards the green-eyed male and instantly wished that he didn't when he found that his piercing stare was already focused on him.

gulping, seungmin turned away to tap chan's shoulder. the male was facing a wall and holding his head in his hands. "yes, seungmin?"

"felix told me that you were going to arrange a place for minho and i to sleep?" he said as if it were a question rather than a fact. he was still a bit wary of the people in the castle— after all, he had just met them that day and now he was literally being forced to trust them since he was stuck here until the curse was broken— so he didn't want to risk coming off as demanding and get on their bad side.

chan nodded, still facing the wall. "right. hold on just a moment." he zipped away, returning a couple seconds later with a cloth tied around his eyes. "follow me. i'll take you to a spare room." he then proceeded to calmly walk up a staircase as if he weren't rendered sightless by the blindfold over his eyes. "watch your step. you might trip."

seungmin chuckled at minho's baffled expression. "who— no,  _what_ — are these people?" he whispered shakily to his friend, who in turn responded with a shrug.

"if you're this shocked by  _him_ , how're you going to face seo changbin when it's time to fight him?"

"shut it."

they entered a long hallway, wooden doors littering the sides. chan walked at a brisk pace, naming each one as he passed them. "there's my room. felix's. the bathroom. storage room. jeongin's— you'll meet him later. a door that leads outside. library—"

minho stopped. "you have a library?" he asked, and seungmin could practically see the happiness shining in his eyes.

"yes," chan replied, not bothering to wait for minho as he continued his way down the hall until he halted in front of a door near the end. "and this," he said, "will be your temporary room for now. i hope you don't mind how sparse it is. we weren't really expecting guests anytime soon."

pushing open the door, chan revealed to them a very plain room. it was almost empty save for a wardrobe, a wooden desk, and a small oil lamp on top of it. a circular window showed the moorlands outside, the sky darkening quickly. it was rather bare, but seungmin thought that it was still kind of them to show the two of them any form of hospitality at all,  _especially_  since that he thought that they would be dead or something by now.

_maybe they're saving that for when we fall asleep._

"wait a minute," minho said, appearing behind chan, "do we not get a bed? do you expect us to just sleep on the floor?"

 _damn it, minho, be thankful or they'll kill us!_ seungmin thought worriedly. one of minho's greatest attributes— and greatest faults— was the never-ending confidence that he exuded wherever he went. he was never afraid to be brash or speak out whenever he wanted to, which was the exact opposite of his best friend. seungmin guessed it was why they balanced each other out so well. sometimes, though, he wished minho would just keep his mouth shut.

to his surprise, though, instead of radiating bloodlust, chan just waved his arms frantically. "oh, no! of course not! that would be rude. i will have blankets and bedding brought to you both, so just sit tight for now." 

suddenly, a cry was heard from one of the rooms. chan's head immediately shot up and he hurriedly turned around. "my apologies, mates, but i have to take care of something really quickly. i'll be back in a jiffy." and with that he ran into one of the rooms in the hallway, closing the door with a gentle  _thud_.

**❂❂❂**

 

"a jiffy" turned out to be nearly an hour later, and seungmin had almost resigned to falling asleep on the cool stone floor alone. the reality of his situation had hit him like a horse and he felt exhausted, mentally and physically, so he lay sprawled on the ground waiting for chan to return. minho had left almost immediately after the blindfolded man to seek out the library, enticed by what he said was "the call of the books", leaving seungmin to suffer his realizations by himself.

the tailor was too tired to even react when the door opened, chan standing there with a pile of blankets in his arms. he was still wearing the blindfold, and seungmin couldn't for the life of him decipher why. "i'm sorry that took so long. things are getting a bit... _complicated_  for some people. i appreciate your patience." he dropped the bedding in the middle of the room and turned to leave, but before he did he paused at the door. "your friend is in the library, correct?"

 _how did he know?_  "yes, he is."

he faced seungmin, and the tailor could feel his eyes on him despite the cloth covering them. "good. i forgot to tell you something." he pointed to a door at the very end of the hallway. "that room is strictly off-limits. hyunjin's orders. make sure to let your friend know." he then began to close the door.

"w-wait!" chan stopped and poked his head back in the room.

"is there something you need?"

seungmin hesitated but decided to continue. "if you don't mind me asking, who were those people in the living room? the one with the green eyes and the one who was...um..."

chan cocked an eyebrow with a slight smile. "completely and utterly bare? that's jisung, the fire demon you met earlier. he switched into his human form while we were gone."

seungmin thought for a moment. "wait, but didn't you say that jisung can only leave the fireplace when hyunjin is around?"

chan nodded.

"and before we left, didn't you tell me that he wasn't in the castle?"

chan nodded again.

"so that means..." seungmin mulled things over for a bit before he looked at chan with wide eyes. "the green-eyed man is  _hwang hyunjin?"_

"took you long enough." with a smirk, chan shut the door, leaving seungmin alone with the newfound knowledge that his lifelong fear was merely one floor below him.

 


	9. THE TAILOR'S BARGAIN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heck yeah a long overdue update

**WHEN SEUNGMIN**  woke up to find minho nowhere in sight, his mind immediately jumped to the wore possible conclusion: hyunjin had murdered his friend in his sleep, and he was next. he began to hyperventilate, fear sinking in, until he saw a note that lay next to his pillow.

 

 _seungmin,  
_ _you kept flailing while you slept and every time i tried to wake you up then you would try to punch me, so i got up early and went to the library._

 

seungmin winced internally. he had a tendency to move around in his sleep and would subconsciously react violently if someone tried to wake him up. he guessed it was a defense reflex and never really thought much about it since it wasn't often he slept in the same room with someone.  _apologies, minho,_  he thought before continuing the letter.

 

_i'm writing this note because knowing you, you'd probably see that i wasn't with you and assume i was dead. come find me when you wake up so we can make a plan. bring the spellbook with you. don't forget it._ _  
_ _— minho._   
_(by the way, chan came by and set out a spare outfit for you on the table. you can take a bath and get changed a few doors down the hall. it's a bit more extravagant than you're used to, but i think it will look wonderful on you, so don't even think about not wearing it or i'll force it on you personally.)_

 

seungmin chuckled a bit.  _he knows me so well._  glancing over at the small table in the corner of the room, he saw a neatly folded pile of clothes sitting on top of it. he approached it hesitantly, minho's words ringing in his mind:  _it's a bit more extravagant than you're used to._  seungmin never wore fancy garments and stuck to plain and basic ones instead. minho always urged him to design an elaborate outfit for himself, but seungmin constantly brushed him away under the guise that he didn't want to waste his materials on himself. but that was only half of the truth. the other half was that seungmin didn't want to stand out. he was so used to staying out of the spotlight that he had come to dread being the center of attention, and he knew that the moment he started wearing something elegant or fancy, he would be stared at. just the thought of it made him want to sink as far as possible into the white button-up he was wearing and hide from the world.

seungmin felt the fabric and gasped. the shirt was made from silk, immediately showing its class and worth. it was a maroon hue, similar to the beat-up chair downstairs, but its colour was much richer in comparison to the dullness of the piece of furniture. he picked it up and watched as it unfolded in front of him, his eyes widening at the sight. the shirt was long-sleeved and collared with a v-shaped cut in the middle that stopped just under where his chest would be. it was quite revealing— much more than seungmin would prefer— but thankfully it was held together by strings that crisscrossed over each other, going all the way down the opening. along the sides of the cut were chiffon ruffles lined with gold, and seungmin traced them in complete and utter shock. the hem of the shirt was also lined with intricate gold swirls, and buttons made of the same material lined the cuffs on the sleeves. all in all, it was extremely impressive, and seungmin couldn't help but wonder if he would be able to make something like that one day.

 _there's no way i can wear something like this,_  he thought,  _but if i don't, minho will probably kill me before hyunjin does._  with a resigned sigh, he carefully picked up the pair of black pants that were left on the table (which, he noted, were made of  _very_  fine wool) and left the room to take a bath and change.

seungmin hadn't realized how much he needed a bath until he stepped out of the porcelain tub and onto the tiled floor feeling refreshed and renewed. his body, once caked in sweat and dirt, was now scrubbed clean, and he felt better than ever. to his surprise, the castle had what seemed like an unlimited supply of hot water, which was typically a luxury in seungmin's tiny home. he never had enough time to put on a fire to heat the water and he had no friends that knew fire magic, so he had to settle for cold water baths that, when combined with the chilly night air, felt more like an ice bath than anything. so, he relished in the warmth for as long as he could before exiting to get dressed.

as soon as he put on the shirt, seungmin wanted to take it off. even though the strings held it together, you could still see quite a bit of his chest through the slit in the shirt. he tried to pinch the fabric together but it was to no avail as the shirt seemed adamant about staying open.  _if only i had my emergency sewing kit, i could just patch this right up and be done with it!_ the tailor thought in defeat as he left the bathroom (slipping on his blue pendant at the last moment). he had to admit, though, that the clothes chan had brought fit his body perfectly, which was a pleasant surprise.

"minho?" seungmin called, opening the door to the library. he was met with silence. cracking open the door further, seungmin stepped inside and peered around at the numerous bookshelves that surrounded him. it was no wonder that minho had spent so much time in the library: it was  _amazing_. books spilled out of the wooden shelves, laid in stacks on the ground, and were stuffed in just about every single nook and cranny in the (surprisingly large) room. it wasn't as large as the library in market chipping, but it was fairly obvious that the books it held were much more valuable and much rarer than any bookstore could ever have. seungmin wasn't an avid reader himself but couldn't suppress his amazement at everything that the room held.

snapping himself out of his reverie, seungmin cleared his throat and tried again. "minho? are you in here?" 

again there was no response, and the tailor felt his anxiety from earlier resurface. he quickly shut the door to the library and ran downstairs, his mind racing. he paused when he heard a shout that sounded a lot like minho and peeked around the banister to see what was going on.  _are they hurting him? are they cooking him in a giant pot? why did he yell like that?_

however, the scene before him was nothing like that. minho (who was wearing a new set of clothes, seungmin observed) was holding a fire poker threateningly at jisung, who was back in his demon form and trying his absolute best to avoid getting stabbed from his spot in the fireplace.. chan and felix were seated at the table eating bacon and eggs with another boy that seungmin hadn't seen before. the three of them were laughing with delight at minho and jisung; seungmin noticed that neither hyunjin and changbin were present, which was a great relief to him.

chan stopped laughing for a moment, but his grin stayed on his face. without looking once in the tailor's direction, he said, "don't just stand there, seungmin. come and join us!"

all of the eyes in the room snapped to his form that stood frozen at the bottom of the steps. minho gasped and dropped the fire poker before racing to his friend's side. "seungmin! you're finally awake! i see you heeded my warning and put on the clothes." he beamed and patted his shoulder. "and i see that i was right when i said that they would look wonderful on you! i'm so proud of you, seungie! you really stepped out of your comfort zone!"

seungmin chuckled tentatively. "i suppose i did. although i do feel rather exposed..." he gripped the cut in his shirt and tried to hold it together, but minho gently slapped his hand away.

"don't do that!" he said with a pout, "i told you, you look absolutely marvelous. doesn't he, chan?"

the silver-haired man nodded in agreement and minho gave the tailor a smug look. "see?"

seungmin rolled his eyes and fixed his gaze on chan. "um, i'd just like to say thank you for the clothes," he said, playing with his fingers nervously. "it was very kind of you to let us borrow them. they fit perfectly, by the way."

chan waved his hand. "oh, no, don't thank me. hyunjin was the one who picked them out. i just delivered them to your room. i'm glad you like them, though."

at the mention of hyunjin's name, seungmin tensed up.  _hwang hyunjin was the one who chose these for us?_  he thought incredulously.  _i would never expect someone like him to do something so...kind. unless he just likes to dress his prey up before he kills them. yes, that sounds more plausible._

"oh, seungmin!" felix jumped up from the table and tugged on the arm of the boy next to him. "i nearly forgot to introduce you to someone! this is jeongin, chan's b—" chan quickly shot him a deadly glare and felix gulped. "b...best friend! yes! they're the best of friends!" he chuckled nervously. "anyway, i just thought it would be good if you two got acquainted since, you know, you'll be staying here for a while and all..."

seungmin nodded.  _a while? more like for all eternity._  "it's very nice to meet you, jeongin," he said with a small smile. the boy looked timid and frail— as if he were on the verge of passing out— and a look of nervousness crossed his pale face.

chan leaned across the table and whispered something into his ear, and instantly jeongin relaxed. "it's nice to meet you as well," he said with a quiet voice, his dark eyes never meeting seungmin's own but instead focusing themselves down on the table. the tailor immediately felt pity for him. he looked to be in such a sorry state.  _why is he living in a castle with these people?_

"seungmin, did you bring namjoon's spellbook with you?" minho questioned from behind him.

seungmin gasped. "i completely forgot! hold on, i'll retrieve it now—"

"no need."

everyone's gaze shifted to the stairwell. dressed in a flowy white button-up, dark slacks, and a large pink jacket covered in blue diamonds, hwang hyunjin approached the group, the book in his hands. he stopped in front of seungmin and handed him the leather tome, his green eyes twinkling. "i went through your things and found this. i hope you don't mind."

"it's no problem," seungmin spoke warily. quickly turning away from the wizard, he said, "jisung, don't you need to be in your human form for this?"

jisung chuckled mischievously. "well, actually, while you were sleeping, i got to thinking."

"jisung can think?" felix whispered loudly.

 _"shut up!_  as i was saying," jisung hissed, "i was thinking about this whole thing when i realized that this is a one-way deal. i'm helping you without getting anything in return. that's a bit unfair, isn't it?"

"i suppose," seungmin said slowly, not liking where this conversation was heading.

"so, here's the bargain that i'm proposing: you help me break the curse that ties me to this fireplace, and i'll help you break the curse that ties you to hyunjin."

the room went silent. even hyunjin's eyes widened slightly at jisung's words. what he was proposing was, quite frankly, an insane offer. how could seungmin, someone completely ordinary and magicless, break a powerful curse that he knew nothing about? it was preposterous. it was impossible. it was—

"i'll do it," seungmin said, and everyone's heads whipped around to stare at him in shock.

"seungmin, what are you saying?" minho cried. "this could take you a lifetime to do, not to mention the fact that you have no powers!"

"well, then," he said, turning to his friend with a weak smile, "it's a good thing i have the rest of my life to do it, right?"

and that was the truth. the fact of the matter was that seungmin was stuck in hyunjin's castle for all of eternity, and there was nothing any of them could do about it unless jisung chose to help. it was seungmin's best bet at being able to break the curse. after all, where else could he go? as long as the curse was in effect, it would be impossible for him to leave, which meant that this was his only option. this was the only thing he could do.

"...alright," minho sighed, and seungmin could sense that the helplessness of the situation had finally sunk in for him. "but! as long as you're staying here, i will too. i'm not letting my friend stay in a place like this surrounded by a dangerous wizard, a warlock of darkness, an actual demon, a problematic apprentice, and whatever the hell chan is!" he paused and pointed at jeongin. "he's fine. everyone else is a recipe for disaster, and i should know. i'm a baker!"

"he's not wrong," chan mumbled as seungmin waved his arms frantically.

"you can't stay here, minho. you're not like me; you can actually have a life! you can be free from this place and be successful out there! don't force yourself to be in my position and give up everything that you already have."

minho shook his head with a small smile. "if i can't save my best friend, then everything i have is worthless to me. i told you i'd do whatever it took. now let me prove that to you."

seungmin opened his mouth to protest, but minho slapped a palm over his mouth before he could say anything. "don't even bother. you know that once i make my mind up about something, i'm not going to change it." he turned to jisung, who was flickering in the fireplace. "you've got yourself a deal, but only if i'm allowed to stay as well. got it?"

the flame stilled for a moment, and seungmin was almost positive that he was going to object. after all, there were already more than enough people in the castle; why take in another one when they didn't need to? the tailor was surprised enough that hyunjin hadn't interjected at all. it looked like he wanted to say something but refrained from doing so, his green eyes simply boring into jisung's small form expectantly. it felt like the whole room was holding their breath, waiting for the fire demon to speak.

and finally, he did.

"you've got yourself a deal."

seungmin had never felt so relieved yet so terrified in his entire life.


	10. THE TAILOR'S TALENT

**AFTER EATING**  a hearty breakfast (where felix successfully lifted the mood of the household), chan took seungmin and minho into the kitchen. "alright, mates," he said, clapping his hands together, "do either of you have a use?"

minho's eyebrow rose. "a use? what do you mean?"

chan shrugged. "well, i guess what i'm trying to ask is if you have any talents? any gifts? any skills?" he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the stone counter. "everyone in the castle has a use that makes them valuable to hyunjin in some way. i cook and clean and keep everyone out of trouble. jisung powers the house and gives us heat. felix uses his magic to protect us. jeongin runs errands and gives us comfort. and of course, changbin is a prisoner. so what can you do?"

seungmin hesitated for a moment. "well... minho is an excellent baker, and i'm fairly decent at tailoring—"

 _"fairly decent?"_  minho screeched incredulously. "chan, seungmin is an  _amazing_  tailor. he could turn ugly rags into beautiful robes in a snap! everything that he makes is a work of art that i'm sure you'd love."

chan's gaze landed on seungmin's form. "is this true?"

the tailor made a face. "well..."

"yes, it is." minho nodded quickly, his light brown hair bouncing as he did so. "and if you don't believe me, he can show you!"

seungmin whipped around. "wait, wha—"

chan's expression brightened. "oh, a test! good idea, mate! seungmin can make me an outfit and you can bake me something! are you any good at baking cakes? i'm terrible at it."

minho snorted. "am i any good at baking  _cakes?_  those mere stacks of yeast that are decorated and flavored? those lumps of grain that even a child could create?" he placed a hand to his chest, seeming almost offended (but seungmin knew he was just being dramatic). "you insult me, chan! give me something challenging to bake!"

chan shrugged. "no. i want a cake. or," he said, eyes gleaming, "i could always just kick you out."

that seemed to snap minho back to the reality of things and his face quickly dropped. however, a spark remained in his eyes, and he stomped past chan in a huff. "i'm going to make the best goddamn cake he's ever had in his stupid life," seungmin heard him grumble as he threw open the wooden cupboards and rummaged through them for cooking supplies.

chan turned his attention to the brunette before him. "as for you, do you think you could begin working immediately? i already have a design in mind and hyunjin has any and all materials that you might need."

seungmin nodded. "i will need to take your measurements beforehand, though," he said, and received a chuckle in response.

"oh, it's not for me. it's for...someone else."

 

**❂❂❂**

 

"why am i getting measured again?" jeongin asked as seungmin stretched a long tape measurer along his shoulders.

chan rolled back and forth on the balls of his feet, barely able to contain his excitement. "it's a surprise!" he said with a grin. "just trust me, okay?" 

seungmin felt the boy slowly relax under his hands. "okay, channie," he said, smiling softly. two large dimples appeared on his pale cheeks and the tailor watched their exchange feeling like a third wheel.  _wait, why are you thinking like that? it's not like you're interrupting a couple! there's no need to feel like you're intruding on their time alone._ he glanced up from his work to find the pair staring at each other, their lips curved upwards in shy smiles.  _they do seem to be a bit more than friends, though..._

he suddenly felt very out of place.  _i should hurry and finish these measurements,_  he thought and picked up his pace.

after that, chan left him alone (presumably to spend more time with jeongin) in his room. before he left, he made sure to deliver everything seungmin would need, as well as the design of the outfit itself. it was clear that chan had the idea for quite a while now, seeing that he had sped to his own room and back to retrieve a crumpled piece of paper with a crude sketch on it. chan wasn't the best artist, but he put a great amount of detail into the description of the outfit and made sure to tell seungmin exactly what he wanted. the tailor appreciated that; it was always nerve-wracking when he was given too much freedom because he wouldn't know if his client would like what he made until much later.

now, seungmin sat on a wooden stool in front of a dirty mannequin, his measuring tape looped around his wrist. he fiddled with the teardrop pendant that rested on his chest in an absentminded manner. gentle sunlight filtered through the circle window, illuminating minuscule dust particles that floated through the air. 

it was quiet. far quieter than what seungmin was used to. he typically worked to the sounds that market chipping had to offer: traveling shopkeepers pulling their wagons; children laughing and playing in the cobbled alleys; jovial citizens wandering about; and, on lucky days, a witch or a wizard practicing their craft for all to see. 

seungmin used to hate the bustle of his small town, but now he found that he missed it more than ever. oh, how he longed to hear those sounds of life again! what he would do to stroll through the streets at his own leisure and bask in the company of the people around him! what he would give to simply live how he once did, in the comfort and safety of familiarity!

the tailor blinked rapidly to return to his senses.  _snap out of it, seungmin,_  he thought.  _this is your life now. the sooner you adapt, the sooner you can find a way to break the curse and return home. so stop moping around and focus on what's important right now: making the best piece of clothing any of them have ever seen in their lives._

so, with newfound resolve, seungmin picked up his needle and thread and went to work.

 

**❂❂❂**

 

the entire household stood gathered around the kitchen table with wide eyes as minho unveiled the cake he had baked.

"ta-da!" he exclaimed with a grand flourish. "so, what do you think?"

it was  _gigantic,_  to say the least (although seungmin expected nothing less from his over-the-top friend). it was three tiers tall and covered with a frosting that looked just like tree bark. covering all three tiers were ornate cherry blossoms, each designed so meticulously that they seemed as if they would fall apart as soon as you touched one. pink candied pearls lined the bottom of each tier. all in all, it was stunning and looked more like an actual cherry blossom tree than a cake.

jisung was the first to speak. "...so, what kind of cake is it?"

"it's strawberry sponge cake filled with chocolate buttercream and covered with chocolate glaze. the flowers are made of vanilla fondant, so they're edible. it's sort of my spin on the classic neopolitan cake." minho crossed his arms proudly. "i could've gone bigger, but i ran out of ingredients."

felix spoke next. "...are you sure we're allowed to eat this?"

"well, you don't want to waste a beautiful cake like this, do you?" minho laughed. "go on, try a piece."

the freckled male picked up a fork and gingerly stuck it in the giant dessert. taking off a small piece and popping it in his mouth, he chewed for a moment, seeming to contemplate the taste. the whole room waited for his review with bated breath, staring at him expectantly. he suddenly lowered his head, and when he looked back upwards, his eyes were glassy with tears. "in my 21 years on this planet," he choked out, "i've never tasted anything as good as this before."

it was a bit chaotic after that. everyone rushed to grab a piece of the cake and promptly shoved it in their mouths, practically melting at the taste. "i didn't think it was possible for anything to taste so good!" jeongin cried, throwing the spoon he was using away and resorting to grabbing handfuls of the dessert instead (seungmin supposed this was what felix had meant earlier when he said that he was a very messy eater). even changbin snuck a few bites before he was promptly shooed away by hyunjin, who took his utensil and used it for himself. in mere minutes the cake was gone and in its place was minho, who stood there with a smug look.  _that must have fed his ego quite a bit,_  seungmin thought and chuckled internally.

hyunjin fixed his piercing green eyes on minho, who remained unfazed by his gaze. he was silent for a moment before speaking. "are you able to make things like that for us every day?"

minho looked surprised. "well, of course. it's what i do for a living—"

"perfect. you can stay."

felix's jaw dropped.  _"what?"_  he cried, leaping out of his chair. "for my test you made me go through all  _sorts_  of magical challenges, and all he had to do was bake a  _cake?"_

"felix, you can't bake for shit," changbin spat. "that pie you gave me for breakfast was absolute garbage, so you can't say anything."

the wizard sank back into his chair with a pout. "it wasn't even that bad," he muttered sulkily.

hyunjin ignored his apprentice and turned around to face seungmin. the tailor gulped at the sight of the handsome man's bright eyes that were transfixed onto him. it made him feel as if he were delving into the depths of his soul and inspecting every single piece of him, bit by bit. somehow he managed to maintain eye contact but he knew it wouldn't be long before he wavered under the wizard's gaze.

 _no wonder he was able to kidnap so many people,_  seungmin thought.  _he's so...alluring._

"so, tailor, have you finished your task?" hyunjin asked. seungmin nodded quickly.

"yes. it's right upstairs. chan?"

the silver-haired man stood, pulling jeongin (who was clearly confused) with him. "seungmin's assignment for me is a little more on the personal side, so i ask that only he, hyunjin, and jeongin come with me to see it." he received a few disappointed groans (mostly from jisung and felix) but paid them no mind and tugged jeongin to the staircase and upwards to the second floor of the house. seungmin and hyunjin were quick to follow, eager to see their reactions.

once they arrived at seungmin and minho's room, jeongin immediately gasped. on the mannequin lay a white velvet cloak lined with silver swirls that twisted and circled around each other. the inside of the cloak was made of dark grey silk which paired nicely with the lighter grey faux fur on the collar.

but the most impressive thing about the cloak was the scenery that was stitched onto it. it depicted a grey wolf curled up next to a black dog in front of a barren tree. tiny snowflakes fell around them, and seungmin recalled how badly his fingers had cramped up when he had tried to stitch them on. not only that, but he had to find a thread that was just the right shade of silver so that the snowflakes wouldn't blend in with the white cloak but also would be subtle enough not to stand out too much. but after he had finished it, he couldn't help but feel quite proud of himself. he hadn't done intricate stitching in quite a while, so it was pretty impressive that he pulled it off,  _especially_  in a mere day.

"you  _made_  this, seungmin?" jeongin breathed out, running the fur through his slender fingers. "it's absolutely  _stunning."_  the tailor gave him a small smile, feeling his heart warm at the praise. "and this, on the back—" he paused to stare at it and locked eyes with chan, who was leaning in the doorway— "it's..." he stopped suddenly, his dark eyes watering. seungmin was worried until he saw the large smile that formed on jeongin's face. the boy clutched the fabric in his hands as he tried to form words, but his voice failed him and he was left with his mouth open, nothing but silence coming out of it. chan rushed over to him at blinding speed (even though he was relatively close to him) and wrapped his arms around his friend, who reciprocated the action with trembling hands. the sight of them embracing made seungmin's heart melt and he couldn't stop a smile from growing on his face.

_maybe one day i'll have someone that will hold me like that._

"tailor."

seungmin jumped slightly when hyunjin's voice sounded close to his ear; so close that he could feel his warm breath.  _queen of ingary, that scared me!_ "yes?"

hyunjin was quiet, and when seungmin looked up, he found that his green eyes were fixed on chan and jeongin; except rather than a piercing stare, his eyes reflected something much softer. "do you know what you just did?"

"...is it something bad?"

"on the contrary. you've done something wonderful." he pointed towards the pair in the middle of the room. "you made someone  _feel_  something just by simply looking at your work. you were able to transfer someone else's wishes into the clothing you made and let them shine in a way that not many others can." he faced seungmin, a small smile gracing his plump lips. "and if you ask me, that's the greatest gift anyone can have. even greater than magic itself."

seungmin's eyes widened at the unexpected compliment. "t...thank you, hyunjin," he stammered, heat beginning to creep up his neck.  _he's a lot more genuine than i originally thought!_ "that really means a lot."

hyunjin chuckled, a glorious sound in the tailor's ears. "of course. i always try to say what i mean. and on that note, i'd like you to make me a cloak just like jeongin's but  _better._  actually, scratch that: make it a full-blown  _outfit._ i expect it to be done by sundown tomorrow." 

_wait, what?_

hyunjin must have seen the panic that spread across the brunette's features because he let out a high-pitched laugh that shocked the shorter male. "i'm just joking! that's too cruel." he continued laughing for a while longer before abruptly halting with a look of confusion. "does your hair always do that when someone plays a joke on you?"

seungmin gave him a confused look. "do what?"

hyunjin took a strand of his hair in between his fingertips. "tailor, your hair is turning red. is that normal?"

"...my hair is doing  _what?"_

 


	11. THE WARLOCK’S APPRENTICE

**CHANGBIN WAS** confused when twenty-four hours passed by and nothing seemed to change in the tailor— _what was his name? seungjin or something?_ — that he had cursed. _something should have happened by now_ , he thought to himself in the darkness of his room (which was where hyunjin sent him after they had finished eating minho’s cake).

 

but when his door burst open to reveal a glowering chan, a red-headed man, and the stupid wizard that trapped him in the castle, he knew that something bad had happened, and he sank into his lumpy bed with a sigh of relief. _finally, something is going my way._

 

"changbin! what the hell are you trying to pull?" chan exclaimed, dragging the red-haired man to his bedside.

 

changbin started at him confusedly for a second before realizing that the man was the tailor he had cursed. "well, nothing much. you see, when a curse is placed on someone, they have a visible trait that signifies that a spell has been placed on them. it can vary from horns to disfiguration to...losing all your clothes when you try to shape shift." he shrugged nonchalantly, feeling hyunjin's eyes boring into him. "however, he got lucky. all that happened was that his hair turned red. nothing more, nothing less."

 

the tailor ( _what was his name?_ ) frowned slightly. "is there any way to take it away? i'm not very fond of it..."

 

changbin snorted. "no. as long as you're cursed— which should be for the rest of eternity— you'll be stuck looking like a cherry. have fun."

 

the man looked mortified, prompting chan to speak. "and you're sure that there are no other side effects? the hair won't...i don't know...ooze blood, right?"

 

 _no, imbecile_ , changbin thought of saying, but decided it would be more entertaining to simply shrug in a vague manner. "who knows? i suppose you'll find out."

 

the tailor's face dropped even further and chan looked like he was close to strangling him. hyunjin, however, simply turned away. "let's go," he said. "it's clear that he's not going to give us information any further. chan, we have something important to discuss concerning tomorrow's events. seungmin, you may roam the house at your leisure, but please stay out of my room."

 

 _seungmin! that's his name!_ changbin thought as his "visitors" closed the door, leaving him alone in the darkness once more. he groaned, rolling around on his springy mattress, cringing every time the bed squeaked. "stupid bed," he muttered. "stupid castle. stupid wizard. stupid spell."

 

he lay there for a period of time cursing random things until he grew tired and decided that he would take a nap (which was practically all he'd been doing ever since he had gotten captured, seeing as there was nothing for him to do in his godforsaken room). but just as he was about to doze off, three soft knocks jolted him back awake. "changbin? it's felix again. i'm coming in."

 

the warlock groaned in annoyance and rolled his eyes. the first time he had been caught, it had been the filthy half-blood who gave him his meals and checked up on him every so often. but after his escape attempt, the silver-haired man had been replaced by hyunjin's apprentice, a loud, blundering fool named felix. changbin preferred chan far more than him because at least he left him alone most of the time; felix, on the other hand, barged into his room at random times, ever-present in the warlock's life.

 

 _is this my punishment for everything i've done?_ he thought in despair when the door creaked open. _if so, i'm sorry! i swear i'll change! just let this **idiot** disappear from my life forever!_

 

"changbin! i've got great news!" felix always had "great news" whenever he visited him. the first time it was to tell him that he found a rabbit outside the castle, to which changbin informed him that _he didn't care_. the most recent time it was to bring him a tiny daisy, to which changbin had said, "why are you bringing me a weed?" (that was four hours ago.)

 

_maybe if i don't say anything, he'll leave me alone._

 

"so i was talking to hyunjin—"

 

_damn it._

 

"—and it took a little work, but i finally convinced him to let you out of your room!" his excitement radiated off of him in waves. "isn't this great? now you're free to roam the castle!"

 

changbin's eyes widened in genuine surprise. those were the last words he'd expected to leave felix's mouth. "he said _what?"_

 

"that he's allowing you to leave your room! hyunjin has no idea how long he's planning to keep you here, so he said that it'd be best if you become used to the castle. so, he's lifting the spell off of your door so that you can enter and exit as you please. but—" he lowered his ridiculously low voice even more— "if you can't handle the enormous responsibility, then we will have no choice but to stick you in your room for the rest of your stay here."

 

changbin snorted. "relax, kid, i'm not about to ruin my only chance at getting out of this shithole." he stood up and stretched, his joints popping as he did so. "i'm starving, so i'm heading to the kitchen."

 

"sounds good! i'll come with you," felix chirped, much to changbin's disdain. he had no intentions of spending any more time than necessary with the carrot-haired male.

 

"no. i'm going by myself."

 

felix frowned at this, but it quickly turned into a smug grin. "if you don't let me come, i'll tell hyunjin."

 

"you're an actual child, you know that?"

 

"so i've been told."

 

 

 

 

 

❂❂❂

 

 

 

 

 

the kitchen's supply was nearly exhausted due to minho's extravagant display from earlier on, leaving the pair with little to eat. all that was left were a few vegetables and a handful of spices. felix attempted to make a soup for them, but there were two problems with that: firstly, jisung refused to get back in the fireplace to heat their food, and secondly—

 

"i thought i told you already: you can't cook for shit." changbin stared down at the chunks of carrots and potatoes that lay in front of him with distaste. "you can't even use a knife properly. give that to me." he snatched the blade out of felix's hand; in the blink of an eye, the male poofed away and reappeared near the maroon chair in the sitting room. "what?"

 

"...not to be rude, mate, but i don't feel very comfortable being near you when you've got a knife in hand. you could dismember me in a millisecond. i quite like having my limbs intact, you know."

 

changbin cocked an eyebrow. "i thought you knew magic. a good magician could easily disarm someone who is powerless."

 

at this, felix seemed to deflate ever so slightly. "well..." he sighed, inching closer. "i'm sort of a sorry excuse for a wizard. hyunjin taught me a lot during my time here, but i can't seem to do anything right! plus, he's never around anymore, so i have to teach myself. but how can someone who doesn't know anything teach themselves magic?"

 

changbin's first thought was somewhere along the lines of _why are you telling me this_ and _i don't care._ but a genius idea popped into his head— one that could prove to be beneficial to both of them.

 

"so what i'm hearing is that you need a new teacher," he said with a sly smile. "someone experienced in the art of magic and will be available whenever you need them. someone who can nurture you and turn you into a real magician."

 

felix shrugged. by now, he had moved right outside the threshold of the kitchen. "well, yes. but nobody in the castle can help me besides hyunjin!"

 

"i can." changbin crossed his arms in front of his chest as felix's eyes grew as wide as saucers. the corners of his lips twitched upwards in amusement. "have you forgotten? i may be young, but i am one of the most skilled warlocks in the land. i could tea—"

 

 _"really?"_ he hadn't even finished speaking when the orange-haired male bounded up to him excitedly."that would be great! i won't let you down, master!"

 

now it was changbin's turn to gawk. _"master?"_

 

"of course! you're my master and i'm your apprentice!" the warlock let out a silent sigh of relief. "unless you don't like being called that. hyunjin didn't like it either."

 

changbin quickly shook his head. "i— i'm not fond of formalities. besides, you didn't let me finish."

 

felix cocked his head to the side. "wait, what do you mean?"

 

"you're an idiot if you think i'm just going to make you my apprentice for free. i want something in return for my services." he tossed the knife in his hand absentmindedly. "i don't know how long hyunjin plans to keep me here, but i want that time to be reduced a lot. i don't plan on staying in this shitty castle forever." _if i do, i might go insane._ "i'll agree to teach you what i know if you can get me out of here faster." he stabbed the cutting board next to him, relishing in the satisfying _thunk_ it made, and bore his sharp gaze into felix's soft one. "that's my offer, and it's the only one you're going to get."

 

felix looked hesitant, and changbin almost thought he wasn't going to respond until he opened his mouth. "if i agree," he began, "can we start in two days time?"

 

 _two days? why not tomorrow?_ changbin wondered and vocalized his thoughts. the younger male gave him a resigned chuckle and shook his head a bit.

 

"you'll find out. i'd advise you to just stay in your room tomorrow— it's going to get a bit hectic in here. i'll deliver your meals and get you whatever you need, just...stay in your room."

 

"...alright," changbin said, not attempting to hide the suspicion in his voice. "anyway, are you taking my offer or not?"

 

felix’s sullen look quickly turned into a bright smile. "yes! this is such an amazing opportunity! i can't thank you enough, changbin." he marched out of the kitchen determinedly but paused and turned back around at the foot of the staircase. "um...so we'll begin in two days time, right?"

 

"two days time."

 

felix looked satisfied at this and left changbin alone in the kitchen. it wasn't until he leaned his elbow against the counter and accidentally planted it in a pile of potatoes did he remember that the whole reason they were there was because the other male was supposed to be making the two of them dinner.

 

"...oh my god— _felix!"_

 


	12. [SPECIAL I] THE HALF-BLOOD’S COMPANION

**ONE OF** the best parts about having a heightened sense of smell was that it was extremely easy to track down magical creatures.

 

one night, hyunjin had received an urgent request from the citizens of porthaven— a small town that focused on their fishing exports to keep themselves running— to take care of a feral monster that had suddenly appeared and was terrorizing the town. nobody had gotten close enough to discover what it was in fear of being ripped to shreds. fear was present among the townspeople, and the stench of it radiated off of them so much that it was too overwhelming for chan to bear. so, as soon as they arrived, hyunjin ordered everyone to evacuate, promising that it would only be an hour before they would be able to return.

 

hwang hyunjin was the only 21-year-old chan knew that could promise something so ridiculous yet somehow make it happen.

 

"can you smell it?" hyunjin asked.

 

chan nodded. "i've picked up on an unfamiliar scent. it's not human, but it's not completely monster either. it's odd." he rubbed his nose and sighed. "maybe the townspeople's scents are still lingering in the air. but whatever it is, i'm certain it's what we're looking for."

 

hyunjin gestured forward. "well, then, go ahead. i'll catch up."

 

chan immediately bolted, sprinting through the streets at lightning speed, following the scent trail that was left by the mysterious creature. his speed made the trip short, and in an instant, he came face-to-face with a gigantic black wall.

 

"woah!" he cried, skidding to a halt just before he crashed into it. by now, the smell was so powerful that it stung. looking up, he realized that it wasn't a wall, but a body.

 

a large, furry, _snarling_ body.

 

"shit!" chan jumped out of the way just before the creature could slam into him. now that he could get a better look at it, the male saw that what he was going up against was a _massive_ black dog that reeked of hostility. its canines were sharp and yellowed, and its breath— chan had to refrain from hurling right then and there. normally he wasn't one to mind dog breath, but this wasn't an average dog. as he stared into its black, void-like eyes, chan realized exactly what this creature was:

 

a hellhound.

 

 _the last time i saw one was over seventy years ago,_ chan thought. _they're supposed to be extinct. so how could one just show up out of nowhere?_

 

the male had no time to ponder over his question, for the hellhound began to sprint towards him, a bundle of matted black fur and rock-hard muscle. its speed shocked chan, who barely had enough time to react before a giant paw swiped at him. its claws raked down chan's arm and he hissed in pain. _that'll definitely leave a mark._

 

"listen here, mate, i— _woah!"_ chan leaped out of the way as the hellhound's jaws came down, snapping shut in the spot where the male once was. _i guess talking to it won't help,_ he thought, holding his bleeding arm gingerly. _i don't want to fight, but if it comes down to it..._

 

"chan!" the silver-haired man shifted his gaze to hyunjin, who had finally arrived and was standing on the rooftop of a small brick building. "you were right! this one isn't just a monster— it's actually a human who's under a curse!”

 

 _a cursed human? no wonder their scent was strange!_ chan thought whilst inwardly admiring hyunjin's ability to identify cursed beings in a heartbeat. _damn, now i really can't harm them. this job just got even more complicated._

 

"what do you want me—" he never got to finish his sentence for the hellhound barreled into him, throwing him onto the cobbled street. chan winced as he was slammed onto the ground. _that's gonna leave a bruise_.

 

"chan!" hyunjin's voice caused the hellhound to switch his attention to the wizard. it charged towards him, trampling the wooden carts and boxes in its path. chan watched as hyunjin's lips moved rapidly, and suddenly he was gone.

 

"i need you to be a distraction." chan jumped slightly when the wizard's voice sounded right next to his ear. _he must have used a teleportation spell._ "immobilize it temporarily so that i can have the time to prepare a restriction spell. i haven't done one in a while, so i might be rusty."

 

chan snorted as he watched the hellhound look around confusedly, probably wondering where the brunette disappeared to. "you're never rusty."

 

"i could say the same to you."

 

chan laughed but clamped his mouth shut when the hellhound's head whipped around to face them. "ah, shit," he muttered, "here we go again."

 

hyunjin patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. "you'll be fine. you've got that blood in your veins for a reason. use it."

 

their eyes met— bright green on blood red— before hyunjin dashed off into the night.

 

the hellhound howled as it ran toward chan, and while the sight of it would've made any normal person scream in fright, the silver-haired male simply stood his ground. _you've got that blood in your veins for a reason. use it._ "if you say so, mate," he chuckled, going into a crouch, "but don't blame me if things get a bit messy."

 

right as the creature opened its jaws to devour him, the whole world went dark. the stars that shined over porthaven suddenly disappeared, as did everything else around the hellhound. the beast froze when it realized that it couldn't see anything anymore, and blinked confusedly.

 

then, a moment later, the world came back into the light...and a body slammed into the hellhound's side.

 

the creature lay stunned on the ground for a few seconds before jumping back up with a growl, ready to tear apart whoever it was that attacked them, but the surprise on its face when it was met with an equally ferocious growl was probably the best thing chan had seen in weeks. because there he stood, bang chan himself, but he was in his other form.

 

the form that made him an outcast and caused him to be mocked.

 

the form he rarely brought out yet relished in when he could.

 

the form that made him a half-blood.

 

"werewolf," the hellhound snarled, and chan was caught off-guard momentarily. _i didn't think it was intelligent enough to speak— well, i suppose it's part human, so it makes sense._ "kill...kill werewolf."

 

chan's red eyes narrowed. "sorry, mate, but i don't plan on dying today, especially not to a filthy mutt like you."

 

this clearly agitated the beast, who growled and charged towards him. chan met him head-on, digging his claws into the hellhound's flank. it howled in pain and attempted to shake him off, but his efforts were futile as the silver wolf was larger and far more muscular than it. however, the hellhound managed to drag chan to the ground, and the pair rolled around for a few seconds before the half-blood finally managed to pin it down. the hound thrashed under his paws, not willing to give up, but when chan sunk his fangs into its throat, the beast stilled itself.

 

"no...hurt..." it whimpered, and chan's blood ran cold. the hound's voice, which once was scratchy and rough, had turned into what sounded like a young boy's. it was then that chan remembered that underneath the deadly creature was just a human. that in itself was almost enough to make him let go. _i don't want to put their life in danger— i just need to keep them down for a bit._ so, the wolf slowly removed his jaws from the hellhound's neck.

 

that was his mistake.

 

 _wham!_ in a split second, he was kicked across the street and crashed into a building, destroying a good portion of it. pieces of it fell onto his torso, and chan coughed as he struggled to breathe under the piles of stone and wood.

 

"wolf down!" the beast yipped, its voice back to its normal hellish tone. it jumped around excitedly, which would have been adorable if it weren't for its blood-soaked fur and mangled features. "me finish job now! bye-bye, wolf!"

 

it began to make its way over to chan, who was attempting to dig his way out, but was growing weaker by the second. when he saw the enemy approaching, he whimpered and shut his eyes tightly. _hyunjin, if you're going to do something, now would be the time to do it!_

 

suddenly, the sound of footsteps crunching against rubble stopped. chan's eyes cracked open to find that the hellhound was frozen in its place, poised to deliver the strike that would end his life. in the moonlight he saw hyunjin standing atop a roof, panting heavily, with his hands clasped together in the way that magic-users did when casting constricting spells.

 

 _damn, talk about a close call,_ chan thought right before he blacked out.

 

**❂❂❂**

 

"—an? chan? please don't die on me!"

 

chan groaned as he opened his eyes, light flooding his senses. he was instantly greeted by the sight of a teary-eyed felix, who gasped when he saw that the male was awake. "you're alive!" he bawled, draping himself over the silver-haired man (who was back in its human form). "i thought we had lost you for sure!"

 

chan ignored his dramatic friend and took in his surroundings. sunlight streamed into the room he was in, which looked like a tornado had blown through it. papers and trinkets were scattered everywhere, and his fingers itched to clean it all up. _who would keep their room like this? it's a mess!_  but when he saw a picture of his family laying on the ground next to him, he realized exactly where he was.

 

"felix," he hissed, "why the hell is my room an absolute wreck?"

 

the wizard blanched. "uh..." he quickly glanced out the door. "hm? hyunjin? you want me to go outside for a bit? alright, whatever you say! sorry, chan!" and with that, he sprinted away.

 

"liar! get back here!" chan yelled, dashing out into the hallway. however, he paused when he smelled something that caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up. _an intruder is in the castle._ with silent steps, chan traced the scent to a room a couple of doors away from his own. it was one of the extra rooms in the castle that nobody ever used. as he stood outside the door, the male couldn't help but think that the smell was awfully familiar.

 

"it's the hellhound." chan jumped and whipped around to see hyunjin standing behind him, an amused look on his face. "would you like to see him?"

 

"y...you're just keeping it in a normal room?" chan sputtered. "aren't you afraid it could break out? it's rather powerful."

 

hyunjin shrugged. "i chained him up using the enchanted shackles we purchased a few years back. he can't do anything. besides, i don't think he's much of a threat right now."

 

chan cocked an eyebrow. "what do you mean?"

 

"you'll see." the wizard pushed him towards the door. "go inside. i think you'll be interested in seeing the person that gave you those nasty wounds."

 

for the first time, chan noticed the many bandages that were wrapped around his body in place of a shirt. (thankfully, someone dressed him in a pair of loose brown slacks, so he wasn't as shameless as jisung.) he hadn't felt it before, but now there was a slight burning sensation that ran along his back and arms that worsened when he moved. he frowned. "well, whoever they are, they'd better be ready, because i'm going to give them a piece of my damn mind!" chan threw open the door, mentally preparing his speech in his head.

 

however, he was not expecting to find a young boy huddled against the wall, sobbing quietly.

 

 _...well, fuck_. all of the anger dissipated out of chan as soon as he saw the boy's sorry state. he was clearly malnourished, which was evident by his sunken cheeks and the way his ribs jutted out from his slight frame. his hair was dark and unkempt, a stark contrast from his ivory skin, which was covered in dirt and scratches. like chan, the boy was shirtless, and he saw bandages similar to his own wrapped around his abdomen and his neck. the bandages on the boy's neck were completely soaked in blood, and guilt crept up chan's spine.

 

he took small steps towards the boy, noting how he was doused in the smell of fear. the smell grew stronger the closer he came, so he stopped a few feet away from the shaking boy in hopes that he would calm slightly. he opened his mouth to speak, but the boy beat him to it.

 

"i'm so sorry," he choked out, and chan's heart broke. "i'm so sorry. please don't hurt me, i swear it was—" he paused to hiccup— "an accident. please let me go."

 

 _that's the same voice that came out of the monster earlier,_ chan thought. _i suppose the hound is able to change its voice at will._ it was hard to believe that such a frail, feeble boy could turn into a gigantic, slobbering beast.

 

chan had entered the room with the intention of being cold and cruel, but now all he wanted was to make sure the boy was alright. _curse my soft heart._

 

the silver-haired male knew that him towering over the boy wasn't helping his fear to lessen, so he slid to the floor and sat cross-legged across from him. "i'm not going to hurt you," he said as kindly as he could. "i just want to talk."

 

he could still sense the boy's apprehension. "okay," he said softly, and chan began to rattle off questions.

 

"what's your name?"

 

"yang jeongin."

 

"i'm bang chan. it's nice to meet you." jeongin nodded. "how old are you?"

 

"...19. i think."

 

 _i think?_ "what do you mean?"

 

"well..." jeongin shifted uncomfortably. "i don't know my actual birthday, but i do know i'm at least 18. i'm pretty sure i'm 19, though."

 

chan nodded, speculations floating around in his head. _i think i know what's happening here._ "you're a runaway, aren't you?"

 

to his surprise, jeongin shook his head. "not a runaway. more like...abandoned." his eyes shifted downcast. "i was given to a warlock when i was younger in exchange for my parents' lives. but all he did was place a curse on me and then he let me go. i remember he told me to spread chaos around the world, but i never knew what he meant until..." a new batch of tears began to swim in his eyes, and chan resisted the urge to hug him in fear that he would make the boy even more scared. "i woke up one morning, an everything around me was destroyed. i was so scared, so i ran from that place. but then things like that kept happening to me. there are always some nights where i can't remember anything, and when i wake up, it's like an exploding spell had gone off. then people always find me at the center of these disasters and blame me for it." tears streamed down his pale cheeks. "i know that there's something wrong with me, but i don't know what it is. everywhere i go, people call me a monster, but i'm not! i'm just me!"

 

chan listened to his story in silence. when he was finished, jeongin began to sob again, and this was when the half-blood decided that enough was enough.

 

"come here," he said and closed the few feet of space between them by wrapping the younger boy in a large hug. he held him gently as if he were made of porcelain, and rubbed a hand up and down his back comfortingly, making sure to avoid his wounds. "you're not a monster— i hope you know that. those people don't know anything, so don't listen to them."

 

jeongin's body was tense when chan first took him into his arms, but after a while, he slowly relaxed and leaned into chan's shoulder. it was some time before his quiet sobs stopped racking his small body, and even longer before he pulled away, hastily wiping his tear-streaked face. their eyes met— black on grey— and after a moment, jeongin tore his gaze away shyly. "you're nicer than a lot of the other people i've met."

 

chan chuckled. "i'm not sure about that, mate. i was the one who gave you those—" he jabbed a finger at jeongin's wounds— "after you gave these—" he pointed to his own cuts— "to me."

 

jeongin's eyes widened. _"i_ did that?" he cried. "i'm so sorry! i can't believe i injured someone that badly!" he gingerly ran his fingertips over chan's bandages. "does it hurt a lot? is anything broken? can you still move? wait, that was a stupid question. sorry."

 

chan watched him, thoughts swirling around his brain. "...you really don't have any idea what happened, do you?" he asked, and received a shake of the head in response.

 

"not at all. i...i just can't believe i'd actually do something like this to someone."

 

an ache bloomed in chan's chest when he saw the truly saddened look in jeongin's eyes. "it wasn't you," he said. "it was your curse. none of what happened was your fault at all."

 

chan explained to him what had happened the night before and jeongin hung onto every word, horror crossing his features. "i turn into a _hellhound?"_ he exclaimed, and chan nodded grimly. jeongin put his face in his hands. "no wonder all those things kept happening! i'm a danger to everyone!" he looked up at chan, worry filling his eyes. "you have to let me go. if i stay here, who knows what damage i'll do? i don't want to hurt you..." he swallowed thickly. "...or the people you live with."

 

chan shook his head. "no. the best option is for you to stay here with us." when jeongin protested, chan put a finger to his lips. "we can keep you safe here and give you an actual home. trust me, everyone in this house has dealt with their fair share of magical creatures and is more skilled than you may think. we can teach you how to deal with your curse and figure out a way to work around it."

 

jeongin visibly hesitated. "...i can't accept. you wouldn't want me here. none of you would. i'm not normal."

 

chan snorted. "kid, not one of us is normal. you'd fit in just fine."

 

"are you sure? i don't want to cause you any trouble. i've been told i bring bad luck."

 

chan ruffled his hair with a grin. "well, if bad luck brought you, i hope we get a taste of bad luck more often.”

 

for the first time, jeongin cracked a smile.

 

**❂❂❂**

  

when chan left the room, he found that hyunjin was leaning against the wall, arms crossed. "well?" the wizard asked, clearly impatient. "what's the verdict?"

 

"he's joining your weird-ass cult. that's the verdict."

 

hyunjin frowned. "i never said that you could— wait, i don't run a cult!"

 

"sure you don't."


	13. THE TAILOR'S THIRTEENTH (PART I)

**WHEN SEUNGMIN**  awoke the next morning, he screamed in fright, for hwang hyunjin was looming over him so close that their noses nearly touched.

 _"ah!_ what the hell?" he exclaimed, rushing to push himself away from the wizard. although he was now officially a member of the house, he still didn't fully trust hyunjin. all of the rumors of him kidnapping people and stealing their hearts wouldn't leave his mind, so he made sure to keep his guard up at all times.

hyunjin chuckled and seungmin cursed him internally.  _how can someone's laugh be just as attractive as the rest of them?_  "i was wondering when you would get up, tailor. i've been waiting here for hours."

heat crept up seungmin's neck. "you...you've just been standing here for hours?"  _what if he saw me moving around? what if he heard me snoring? oh, lord, this is so embarrassing!_

hyunjin nodded and seungmin didn't miss the way his lips curved up in an amused smirk. "indeed. your sleeping antics are rather...interesting." the tailor paled. "watching you repeatedly get up and walk around before laying back down was quite entertaining, and when i realized that you were in a sleep-like state the whole time, it was even more so!" he clapped his hands together and laughed, clearly finding it hilarious. seungmin was positively  _mortified_.

"i assume you're in my room for another reason other than to poke fun at my sleepwalking," he said through gritted teeth, anxious to change the subject. he was pleased when hyunjin's laughter ceased, although he retained a little twinkle in his eye.

"of course. today is a very— how should i put it— a very important day. on the thirteenth of every month, all but two of us leave the household for the whole day to go on a little... _excursion_. and now that you and your friend live amongst us, you'll be joining us as well!"

seungmin frowned. "why do we all need to leave?" he asked. hyunjin just shook his head.

"sometimes, some questions are better left unanswered." his eyes darkened for a second, and seungmin swore that he could see something swirling dangerously in his green eyes. however, it was gone in an instant, leaving seungmin more scared— and more curious— than before.

"...alright," he relented, and hyunjin smiled.

"great! i've left you some clothes for you to change into. when you're finished, meet us in the sitting room. oh, your friend is downstairs baking, in case you were wondering." with a  _poof,_ hyunjin disappeared, and seungmin gave a small jump in surprise.

 _why is he so...strange?_ the tailor thought. when he had arrived at the castle, he was expecting to meet a savage, cruel, heartless creature that had bodies hung up in all of his rooms and sharp objects littered around. instead, he was met with a mysterious, quirky oddball who was far too trusting and seemingly opened his doors to just about anyone.  _he certainly is weird,_ seungmin thought as he grabbed his clothes,  _but i'd take weird over getting my heart stolen any day._  


❂❂❂  


when seungmin arrived on the first floor, everyone was gathered in the sitting room. he was surprised to see changbin there too, glowering from his place on the maroon chair. the fireplace was out, and glancing upward, seungmin saw that jisung had taken his human form.  _i guess everyone really is leaving for the day. but why?_

hyunjin was discussing something with chan when he noticed seungmin, and the serious look on his face melted into a kind smile. "tailor! impeccable timing. we must be going now." he turned to the door, where a multi-coloured wheel with an arrow was hung. seungmin hadn't recalled seeing it before. hyunjin spun the wheel so that the arrow landed on a blue sliver and opened the door to reveal a bustling city.

seungmin gasped.  _didn't that door lead to the plains in front of market chipping?_ he thought, and judging from the look on minho's face, his friend was thinking the exact same thing.  _how is it possible that the door could open somewhere completely different?_

felix's face lit up. "we're going to alberia today?" he asked hyunjin, who nodded. felix cheered, clearly ecstatic at this turn of events.

alberia was a large city in ingary known for its various tourist attractions and high-end shops. tailors like seungmin dreamed of being able to sell clothes in alberia, for only the best of the best were allowed to set up shop there. it wasn't a peasant town like market chipping; rather, alberia was where the rich went to spend their money without a care in the world.

seungmin had only heard stories about alberia, and by simply glancing out the door, he could see the stark contrasts from the city to his small town.  _their fashion is...interesting_ , he thought as a woman passed by wearing enough frills to drown a horse. he scrunched up his nose when a man walked past them looking like he was wearing the skin of a flamingo.  _very interesting._

when they exited the house, seungmin turned around and was shocked to see that the moving castle had transformed into a shabby two-story building that was nestled right in between a row of fancy houses. he noticed how the crowds of wealthy people looked at the house in disdain as if they couldn't believe that such a shoddy thing could ever exist. seungmin didn't know why, but a sense of protectiveness rose in his chest. they didn't know how amazing the castle truly was; all they cared about was what was on the outside.

"so, where are we headed?" minho asked, popping a crouton into his mouth. where he got them despite having no pockets, seungmin didn't know. "please don't tell me it's anywhere expensive. i've got no money."

hyunjin chuckled. "no need to fear, minho. we're going somewhere even peasants can enjoy: the fair."

seungmin couldn't help but gape at his words. no fair was ever hosted in market chipping, so he had never been to one before. he had been told many stories by travelers of flying contraptions and wheels that touched the sky, all of it powered by magic. the thought of it was astounding and seungmin never fathomed that he'd be able to one day experience it.

now he would.

as they walked, seungmin wondered how they must look to the civilians. a group of rag-tag people— two of whom were world-renowned magic users— strolling down the streets, pretending that they didn't notice how crowds parted when they came near. maybe it was hyunjin's intimidating aura or changbin's dark glare or chan's—

 _wait, where's chan?_  seungmin glanced around and found that he couldn't spot jeongin either.  _did we lose them somewhere? i thought we all left the house together!_

he hurriedly tapped hyunjin on the shoulder. "i think we..." it was then that he remembered what hyunjin had told him earlier.  ** _on the thirteenth of every month, all but two of us leave the household._** "...never mind," he muttered, and the wizard's green eyes crinkled.

"oh, tailor, were you going to inform me that we had arrived? because i can see that. i have eyes."

 _no, i wasn't,_  seungmin thought irritatedly, despite the wizard's teasing tone. he figured that his irritation must have been evident because hyunjin laughed and patted him on the head before turning around to face the group. spreading his arms, he announced, "welcome to alberia's signature fair! now, a few rules—"

 _"fair!"_  felix and jisung screamed in synchronization, and immediately sprinted through the gates. instead of chasing after them, hyunjin merely sighed and rubbed his temples. seungmin figured that things like that must happen a lot.

"this is exactly why i need chan," the wizard muttered; changbin (whose arms, seungmin noted, were bound behind his back) snorted at the comment. hyunjin closed his eyes and snapped his fingers, and suddenly jisung and felix appeared in front of them. the excitement on their faces quickly melted into ones of confusion when they saw that they were back where they started. felix yelped when he saw hyunjin glowering next to them and hid behind jisung, who was none the happier to be front and center to hyunjin's wrath.

"if you two attempts to do that again," he growled, "i'm sending you straight back to the house where you'll spend the whole day with chan and jeongin while they..." he quickly glanced at seungmin, minho, and changbin. "...do their thing. and i know neither of you wants that, right?"

the pair shook their heads rapidly. hyunjin smiled, his face filled with innocence and purity, as if he hadn't just scolded them. "good. now, back to what i was saying. since i am well aware that some people—" he stared straight at felix and jisung— "can't be trusted by themselves, i've decided to pair everyone up. jisung, you're going with minho, since he's far more mature than you will ever be."

felix snickered and jisung's jaw dropped.  _"what?_  i don't want to be paired up with  _him!_  he forced me into the fireplace for hours so he could bake!"

"and? that's your job!" minho snapped. the two of them glared at each other and seungmin could practically see the sparks flying between their eyes.  _was it really a good idea to put them together? they seem to hate each other._

"felix," hyunjin continued, seemingly indifferent to the fact that his first pairing was disastrous, "will go with me, seeing as i'm the only one that can keep him under control. so, tailor, you'll be with changbin."

 _i have to spend the day with seo changbin?_ seungmin thought incredulously.  _the one who got me in this mess in the first place? this has got to be a joke!_ he stole a glance at changbin, who didn't look any happier about the arrangement than he did.

"actually," felix's voice, uncharacteristically hesitant, piped up, "could i go with changbin instead? i..." he whispered something into hyunjin's ear, and a look of understanding crossed his face.

"i see. in that case, changbin will be with felix, and i'll take the tailor." a bright gleam shone in his eyes as he held out his hand. "well, tailor, i'm sure you're anxious to explore. shall we get going?"

 _well,_ seungmin thought, gently taking his hand,  _at least i know that he won't murder me in the middle of all these people._ "we shall."

 


	14. THE TAILOR'S THIRTEENTH (PART II)

**SEUNGMIN HAD** never wanted to punch someone in the face so badly.

it started when he and hyunjin were standing in line for a ride called the "flying teacups". seungmin had caught a glimpse of people inside of giant floating cups that bounced in the wind and was so enchanted that he immediately rushed over to the ever-growing line. he had almost forgotten about the wizard next to him until a large woman barged past him, her hoop skirt shoving him to the side violently. "well, aren't you a tall glass of water," she giggled, and it took seungmin a moment to realize she was talking to hyunjin.

the wizard chuckled. "so i've been told."

the two of them flirted back and forth until they had made it to the beginning of the line. however, rather than boarding the ride with seungmin, hyunjin got on with the woman, leaving seungmin without a partner. so, he awkwardly boarded alone and spent the rest of the ride quietly watching the world spin beneath him.  _fun times._

after they both exited their teacups (seungmin noticed that the woman was nowhere to be seen), seungmin spotted an attraction called the "death drop". groups would sit in a circular contraption (that was obviously controlled by magic, as seungmin couldn't see any "ride", so to speak) and slowly rise until they couldn't be seen anymore. then, they were plunged through the clouds, dropping at an insanely staggering speed, before they were abruptly stopped right before they could hit the ground. it was the kind of ride that would give height-hating minho a heart attack. it was also the kind of ride that would give height-loving seungmin the time of his life.

hyunjin (who was still very dizzy from their previous ride) nodded when seungmin told him of his desire to go on the death drop, and tottered behind him as they went to stand in line. but as soon as they did,  _another_  woman squeezed herself in between the two of them, ogling over hyunjin.

 _oh no,_  seungmin thought,  _i'm not letting this happen again!_  "excuse me, you're separating me from my... _friend,"_  he said through gritted teeth. "please be considerate and take a step back."

instead of politely adhering to his words, the woman shot him a glare that was just as deadly as the death drop. "who do you think you are, filthy rat?" she spat, looking him up and down and she did so.

seungmin's eyebrows shot up. sure, maybe his outfit was a little plain in comparison to everyone else's. sure, maybe his face wasn't as attractive as hyunjin's. and sure, maybe he looked a bit untidy— he had just come off of a ride, after all. but he wouldn't go as far as to say that he was a  _filthy rat._  that was just uncalled for, especially when he was trying to be polite. he shot hyunjin an incredulous look that said,  _are you really going to just let her say that?_  in response, the wizard merely shrugged, which in turn infuriated seungmin greatly.

 _calm down, seungmin,_ he thought to himself whilst taking a deep breath.  _it's best to not cause a scene. soon you'll be having the time of your life on a fun ride and you can forget all about this woman's existence._

but when they got to the front of the line, it was almost like déjà vu. hyunjin slid his arm around the woman's waist and pulled her through the entrance, leaving the tailor behind. when he attempted to follow them, the proctor of the ride blocked his way. "sorry, sir, but the ride is all filled. you'll have to wait until this group is done before you can get on."

seungmin's eyebrow twitched.  _you've got to be kidding me._

the trend continued on and on. hyunjin and seungmin would go to an attraction; hyunjin would find a woman and get on the ride with her, leaving seungmin behind; the two of them would reconvene afterward, hyunjin acting as if nothing had happened. as time passed, seungmin grew more and more irritated, although he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. hyunjin's love life didn't interest him in the slightest, so why was he getting upset?

 _well, who would want to be ditched by their friend?_  seungmin thought but immediately scratched it out. he and hyunjin were not  _friends—_  more like strangers forced together through unfavorable conditions.  _acquaintances. that's a better word._

by the time hyunjin had moved on to girl number nine, seungmin was fed up. so, when the wizard took the girl by the hand and boarded the ride they were in line for, seungmin decided that enough was enough and got out of line, weaving in between men in bulky overcoats and women with pearls the size of his palm. when he finally escaped the crowd, he breathed a sigh of relief. large groups were never really his thing.

seungmin wandered around the fair, occasionally stopping to marvel at the intricate outfits of some passerby or stare wistfully at the numerous food stands. the only money he had was in his room back in the castle, and even then it wasn't any more than one or two pennies. he was positively  _famished,_  and the smell of fried meat and sweet cakes didn't help one bit.

he was about to begin begging for spare change when someone behind him said, "excuse me, would you like some food?"

seungmin turned to find a male smiling at him kindly, a skewered sausage in hand. he had high cheekbones and smooth, sand-coloured hair that seungmin felt suited his lightly tanned skin nicely. overall, he was very attractive, though seungmin paid more attention to the flowy silver button-up he was wearing rather than his face.  _is that made of silk or a cheaper substitute? are the black roses that dot it stitched or printed onto it? i need to find out the answers to these questions! but first..._

seungmin swallowed, meeting the other boy's dark brown eyes. "oh, no," he said, trying his hardest to not let his gaze drift to the food item in his hand. "i'm fine. thank you, though."

the blonde man raised an eyebrow. "are you sure? because you've been staring at that sausage stand for the past ten minutes looking like you're about to start begging people for money."

 _damn, am i that obvious?_  red began to envelop seungmin's ears as he came to the realization that he was caught. "i... i can't. it would be incredibly rude of me, and—"

"just take it," the male grinned and shoved the sausage into a blubbering seungmin's hands. "it would be incredibly rude of _me_  to deny someone who is obviously starving. eat up and thank me later."

the tailor glanced down at the food in his hands and back up at the boy. "thank you so much," he said, smiling softly. "can i get your name?"

"daehwi," the blonde said. "and how about you?"

"seungmin."

daehwi's grin grew bigger if that was even possible. "seungmin, huh? a cute name for an even cuter guy." seungmin's eyes widened as daehwi took a step forward.  _hold on... is he flirting with me?_ "i watched you for a while. you're here alone, aren't you?"

 _no,_ seungmin was about to say, but daehwi continued. "someone as pretty as you shouldn't be alone in a place like this. how about we walk around for a bit and then go back to my place? i can assure you that it will be much more entertaining than the fair."

seungmin's hunger was long forgotten. instead, a feeling of unease opened up in the pit of his stomach. daehwi's words were making him extremely uncomfortable, and he wanted nothing more than to bolt. nothing like this had ever happened to him before, and every voice in his head was screaming at him to decline daehwi's offer and get the hell out of there.

however, a familiar voice beat him to it. "i'm sorry, but he will be going nowhere with you."

 


	15. THE TAILOR'S THIRTEENTH (PART III)

**SEUNGMIN HAD**  never wanted to hug someone so badly. 

hwang hyunjin stood behind him with a menacing look, his green eyes sharper than ever before. his whole demeanor was nothing like the flirty, friendly man seungmin had left behind; rather, he radiated energy that said  _take one step further and i'll make you wish you didn't_. when the wizard placed his hands atop seungmin's shoulders protectively, the tailor could almost feel the magic buzzing beneath them, ready to be used.

the air was tense between the three of them until finally daehwi scoffed and turned around, slinking away like a cat with its tail between its legs. seungmin felt the buzzing in hyunjin's fingertips fade away as the wizard's grip on his shoulders relaxed; however, when he spun seungmin around to face him, his expression was anything but calm.

"what were you  _thinking,_ running off like that?" he yelled. "you could've gotten lost or hurt! do you know how long we spent looking for you?"

peeking behind hyunjin's shoulder, seungmin saw that the rest of their group had assembled themselves a short distance away, clearly waiting on hyunjin and seungmin to finish their conversation. a pang of guilt resonated in his chest.  _they were all looking for me?_   _i must have inconvenienced them because i wandered off._ he frowned.  _wait a second: the whole reason i wandered off was that..._

anger surged through seungmin. "well, maybe if you weren't paying so much attention to all of those women, you would've seen me leave! it's not  _my_  fault that you were too busy courting girls this whole time!"

hyunjin's green eyes grew dark.  _"courting girls?_  you think that i would willingly waste my time  _courting girls?"_  he scoffed. "i am a wizard whose prowess is known throughout the kingdom. with that fame comes danger. people constantly try to take me down in various ways: potions, curses, and— in today's case— assassins disguised as beautiful women. but i'm no fool— i can see through their disguises  _very_  easily. since they pose a threat to me and my friends, i have to find a way to quickly— and quietly— dispose of them. luring them onto different attractions where everyone was preoccupied with screaming seemed to be the best way to do it." he folded his arms across his chest. "that's why i left you. satisfied?"

seungmin nodded, shame creeping through his veins. he had rudely assumed that hyunjin didn't care about him at all and didn't even consider the fact that he might have been doing that for his own good.  _would anyone have guessed that, though?_  he thought.  _it's very... out there. if it were anyone else saying it, i wouldn't have believed them, but this is the wizard hwang hyunjin, after all._

"but what about daehwi?" seungmin questioned. "he wasn't one of your assassins, yet you were just about ready to launch a spell at him. why?"

hyunjin cocked his head to the side. "how did you know that i was building up my magic?"

"i... well..." seungmin rubbed his arm nervously. "i could just feel it, i suppose. it felt like you were buzzing."

hyunjin stared at him for so long that seungmin was beginning to feel like he had said something wrong. "interesting," he mused after some time. "you're not a magic-user, are you, tailor?"

"no?" 

"very interesting." hyunjin shook his head slightly. "anyway, that boy was very dangerous. like a snake. a harbinger of evil."

seungmin blanched. "what? how so?"

"because... well..." the wizard quickly turned away and began to make his way back to the group. "because i said so. who's the one with magic senses here, me or you?"

 _that doesn't make a lick of sense,_ seungmin thought with an eye roll but followed hyunjin without another word.

 

❂❂❂

 

seungmin was glad when they finally returned to the castle in the evening, the sun sinking on the horizon. the day's events had been rather exhausting, and all he wanted was to get off of his feet. the walk back home had been filled with minho and jisung's bickering; apparently, jisung had gone to a stand that served fried cake and told minho that it tasted better than the ones that he made, leading them to argue over it for quite some time. one thing led to another and minho ended up smashing the cake in jisung's face. the two were quickly separated after that.

before hyunjin even raised his fist to knock, the door swung open, revealing an exhausted chan. seungmin had never seen him so drained, lifelessness practically seeping out of every pore in his body. but the thing that shocked him the most was chan's eyes— they were blood-red rather than the stormy grey he had come to familiarize himself with.  _what happened to him?_

"i thought i smelled your scents, so i came down," he said, slumping against the wall. "come in. we're just about done, anyway, so it should be safe. i just have to finish up a few things." with that, he sped upstairs, leaving seungmin more confused and more curious than before.

"what's he talking about?" he whispered to felix. he had learned that felix was incapable of keeping a secret, so whenever he had any questions, he went directly to him.

"he's talking about the things he has to do to prep jeongin," felix whispered back. "i don't know much about the process, but i do know that he has to feed jeongin certain things on these days so that his hunger doesn't drive him completely insane. after that, i don't know what happens. chan is pretty secretive about what goes on. but i found out that when it gets closer to nighttime— so about now— chan has to put special chains on jeongin to keep him from getting loose. hyunjin put a spell on them a while back when we first found him." felix shook his head somberly. "chan stays outside his door all night, which is  _insane_. i'd never be able to do that. some creepy stuff goes on in there, mate. i feel bad for both of them."

seungmin frowned. "why does he have to go through all this?" felix looked at him incredulously.

"because he turns into a hellhound on the thirteenth. didn't hyunjin tell you?" seungmin's eyes widened, which must have been an answer to felix because he quickly slapped his hands over his mouth. "oops."

thoughts were racing through seungmin's head at a million miles an hour.  _jeongin is a hellhound? aren't those supposed to be extinct? he seemed so sweet, though! is everyone in this house abnormal? isn't it dangerous to keep him here? what if he gets out of control? what if he kills us all? what if—_

"seungmin?" the tailor jumped at the sound of his name being called. he turned to minho, who was staring at him oddly. "hyunjin said we could return to our room now. are you alright?"

seungmin glanced at felix, who made a motion of a zipper being slid across his lips. he hesitated. "i'm fine. let's get some rest, shall we?"

the two of them walked up the stairs and through the hall. as they passed the room diagonal from their own, seungmin heard voices resonating inside of it. however, he couldn't make out what they were saying, so he gave up trying to eavesdrop and followed minho into their shared room. as soon as the door closed, minho whipped around to face seungmin. "tell me everything felix just told you," he demanded, and seungmin complied, knowing that he would never be able to keep anything from his best friend. 

when he told him that jeongin was a hellhound, the baker nodded. "i had my suspicions that he wasn't entirely human," he admitted. "i can't say for sure what chan is, but if i had to guess, i'd say that it's possible he's some sort of rare werewolf breed."

seungmin's jaw dropped.  _"werewolf?_  aren't they a lot more...you know...furry?"

minho snorted. "werewolves aren't always wolves. they can become human, too. but typically they stay in packs with their own kind and don't associate with humans at all, which is why it would be weird for chan to be one. also, none of ingary's werewolves have grey eyes like chan; theirs are all red. but chan's eyes were red when we saw him downstairs, so it's possible that he might be one. add that in with his inhuman speed and his knack for sniffing things out, and i think we've got ourselves a werewolf."

seungmin gawked at his friend. "how in the world did you figure all of this out?"

"i read more than just recipe books, seungmin," minho laughed. "give me some credit here. i'm smarter than you think."

the tailor grinned, but it quickly dropped when the door fell down. thoroughly startled, seungmin turned to see chan standing at the now-empty doorway looking apologetic.  _shit. did he hear everything we just said?_

"sorry, guys," he said. "i knocked and then, uh, the door broke." he chuckled embarrassedly. "i guess i don't really know my own strength, huh?"

 _you really don't!_  seungmin thought. "not to worry," minho said, "we'll be fine going without a door for a night. i can guarantee you that we've slept in much worse situations."

chan looked relieved. "alright. anyway, i just wanted to let you both know that you won't be able to leave your rooms until morning, so no midnight snacks, okay?" he waved his finger in a disapproving way that was clearly meant to be a joke, but he looked too tired for it to be amusing. "that's all. i would try and fall asleep now if you can. have a good night." chan then turned and left; a bit later, seungmin heard a loud crash and a groan. "not again!"

"this is perfect!" minho whispered. now that they had no door, they had to be quieter just in case someone was listening in on them. "now we can spy on them and find out what goes on with jeongin in the middle of the night! this couldn't be any better!"

seungmin nodded. in all honesty, he was quite excited to discover another secret that hyunjin's castle held. everything inside was so new and foreign to him that finding out more about it and its residents thrilled him. he was ready to get to the bottom of this mystery and discover something brand-new.

"no falling asleep, okay?" he said to minho, who rolled his eyes.

"on a night like this? never!"

 

❂❂❂

 

minho ended up falling asleep, which was upsetting because everything had just begun.

seungmin watched from his spot on the floor as hyunjin and chan approached what he assumed was jeongin's door, their backs facing him. "everything is in place?" the wizard asked. chan nodded in response. "good. it should be any minute—"

a blood-curdling scream sounded from jeongin's room. seungmin's eyes widened, fear pumping through his bloodstream.  _what was that? is jeongin okay?_ judging by the way that the pair outside took no immediate action, this seemed like it was a normal occurrence; still, that didn't stop seungmin from worrying.

chan's hand clenched. "i want to go inside."

hyunjin shook his head. "you know that he'll kill you. he's not human anymore— he won't hesitate to rip you to shreds."

"but we've spent so much time together!" chan hissed, and when he turned to face hyunjin, seungmin caught a glimpse of agony in his eyes. "surely by now the hound can recognize me enough to—"

"no. you're not going in, and that's final." the steel-like tone hyunjin used caused a shiver to run down seungmin's spine. suddenly, the fact that he was a wizard infamous for kidnapping and killing people ran through the tailor's mind, and the fear within him grew. 

chan and hyunjin glared at each other before a broken wail from inside the room caused chan to tear his gaze away. he placed a hand on the door and sighed. "you put a spell on here, didn't you?"

"it's for your own good."

chan growled lowly. "one day, i'm going to go in with him, and you can't stop me."

"i know. but not now. it's not safe yet, and you know it."

chan sighed again, hanging his head in defeat. "i know."

"good." hyunjin patted him on the shoulder. "you should get some rest. even if you can stand it, it's not healthy to stay awake all night. it's not good for this—" he jabbed a finger into chan's ribs— "or this." he poked chan in the back of his head. "now, i'm going to bed, and i hope you do the same. you can come to get him in the morning when he turns back, alright?"

chan nodded and hyunjin left him alone in the hallway. however, instead of heading back to his own room, chan turned around and slid down jeongin's door until he was sitting against it, head in his hands. seungmin watched him confusedly for a while before he realized in shock that chan was crying, silent sobs wracking his body.

the tailor's heart clenched.  _he really cares for jeongin,_  he thought.  _i wish i could go out and comfort him, but i have a feeling that some journeys are better taken alone._

suddenly, a loud roar ripped through the air as well as the sound of metal clinking together, as if someone was struggling to rip off chains. seungmin remembered how felix mentioned earlier that jeongin was forced to wear special chains so that the hellhound wouldn't be able to get free, and gulped. a series of howls and ferocious barks erupted, and the sound made seungmin want to run and hide. but what happened next chilled him to the bone.

"channie," said a voice, and it took seungmin a moment to realize that it was jeongin's— and it was coming from his room. "channie, i'm all better now. please free me."

chan didn't move a muscle.  _why isn't he freeing jeongin?_  seungmin wondered.  _that's his voice, isn't it? he said that he's back to normal. isn't it cruel to keep him there longer?_

after a bit of silence, a broken cry sounded from the room. "channie, why won't you save me? i'm human again! i promise." chan still didn't move. "please, channie! it hurts! it hurts so much!" the voice wailed, clearly becoming more and more desperate. "channie! help me!  _help me!"_

seungmin could see chan visibly trembling. he gripped his arms as if he were afraid of what he would do if he used them. the voice continued crying out to him, but he simply gripped tighter. the sight of it made seungmin more confused— and more scared.  _i don't understand. why isn't chan helping him?_ an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach, yet he continued to watch, too enthralled to look away.

the voice went quiet, and chan let go of his arms with a sigh. his eyes seemed to glow sadly in the darkness of the hallway as his body relaxed, and he leaned against the wall, the light of his red orbs dimming as they closed.

and then the voice returned.

"i thought you loved me, channie."

chan's eyes snapped open and he leaped to his feet. "don't you say that!" he screamed at the door. "don't you say that with his voice! don't..." his voice cracked, and he fell to his knees, sobbing once more. "you...can't..."

"i guess you don't," the voice continued, but there was something different about it. it sounded twisted and demonic. "if you truly loved me, you would come in and free me. come on. free me. free me!"

 _this isn't right,_  seungmin thought as chan yelled, "no! never!"

"free me, channie!" the voice sounded distorted as if there were two people speaking at once: jeongin and someone else. "free me! free me!"

"shut up!" chan pressed his hands to his ears and faced his back to the door. his face was contorted as if he were in pain. "stop it!"

"free me!" the voice continued to chant, getting more and more demented with every word. "i thought you loved me! free me!" the sound of chains thrashing sounded from the room. "agh! free me!  _free me!"_

"no... no..." chan whispered as the voices got louder. seungmin watched as he tilted his head back so that it leaned against the door. a thin trail of tears ran down his pale cheeks. "please stop... please..."

 

 

 

that night, seungmin discovered that some of the mysteries in hyunjin's castle were better left as just that: mysteries.


	16. THE TAILOR'S SAVIOR

**"I'M LEAVING."**

after a sleepless night filled with sights and sounds that shouldn't ever be witnessed, hyunjin's sudden declaration the next morning during breakfast hardly shocked seungmin at all. however, it proved to be the exact opposite for felix, whose fork clattered against his plate.

"what? but you just got back!" he exclaimed. "i thought you said you were staying this time!"

hyunjin shook his head solemnly. "i'm sorry, felix. i'd love to stay longer, but i have to take care of something very important and i cannot put it off any longer."

felix crossed his arms with a huff. "you always say that," seungmin heard him mutter. the redhead frowned.  _this must happen often._

hyunjin either didn't hear his comment or chose to ignore it. rising from the table, he asked, "where is jisung? i need to let him know that he'll be confined to the fireplace while i'm gone."

seungmin was exhausted so he didn't notice earlier, but now that hyunjin mentioned it, the fire demon was nowhere to be found. chan and jeongin were, as felix put it, "probably cuddling or some nasty shit because of what happened last night"; changbin was up in his room; however, jisung and minho were gone.

as if by magic, jisung bounded down the stairs, minho trailing behind him. "good morning!" he chirped, plopping down at the table next to felix and bouncing in his seat ever so slightly.  _he seems to be in quite a good mood,_  seungmin noted.

"it's not a good morning!" felix cried. "hyunjin just said that he's going to leave again!"

jisung's face dropped faster than a fifty-ton boulder rolling off of a cliff. "what? no!" he wailed, slamming his head onto the wooden table and clawing at it in agony. "how could you?  _how could you?"_

next to seungmin, minho rolled his eyes. "quit being so overdramatic. it's not like he's leaving forever." he glanced at hyunjin hesitantly. "right?"

"correct." hyunjin smiled and clasped his hands. "i won't be gone for long. my task should only take about a year to complete, give or take."

seungmin choked on his milk. minho's eyes shot open. jisung looked close to tears. felix slammed his fist down on the table. "this isn't fair!" he shouted. "you're always disappearing and you never tell us why. and when you  _are_  home, you're always cooped up in your room doing who-knows-what! it's been forever since we've actually done something fun together, like in the good old days." with every word, his deep voice cracked more and more, and it was a pitiful thing to see. "what happened to you, hyunjin?"

it didn't take a genius to figure out that hyunjin was shocked at felix's sudden outburst. he quickly recovered and cleared his throat, and seungmin could see a hint of softness in his typically sharp green eyes. "you're right. i haven't been fair to you, jisung, chan, or jeongin these past years," he said. "i want to make it up to you. how about we spend the day together before i leave in the evening? just like the good old days."

this seemed to lift felix's spirits as he nodded excitedly. to everyone's surprise, though, jisung slowly shook his head. "you and felix should enjoy some time to yourselves. i'm going to stay home." his gaze flickered to the side where seungmin was, but the tailor had a feeling he wasn't looking at him. "i have something important myself to take care of."

hyunjin arched an eyebrow but shrugged. seungmin absentmindedly wondered if his flowy white shirt was a blouse or a dress shirt. "i guess it's just me and you, felix." he extended his hand, fingertips gently fluttering open. "shall we go now?"

felix grinned. "we shall!" he grabbed hyunjin's hand and practically dragged him to the door where he spun the wheel until it landed on a yellow sliver. he kicked the door open to reveal a sight that made seungmin's jaw drop: it was a beach with sparkling sands and glittering waters that seemed to call out his name.  _how is that even possible?_  he thought in disbelief. to his disappointment, the view was only visible for a few short seconds, for felix yanked hyunjin out of the house, the door slamming shut behind them.

minho was the first to break the silence that had fallen upon the three of them. "is that door magic or does this house just move ridiculously fast?"

jisung chuckled. "it's a magic portal. each colour on the wheel is representative of a specific place that the portal can lead to, which is how you can change where you end up. trust me, if the house moved that fast, i'd be on my deathbed. it's not easy being the thing that keeps this house running."

seungmin hummed, finally understanding the mechanics of the door. "so why didn't you end up going with hyunjin and felix? you deserve to have a break before you're stuck working in the fireplace again."

jisung and minho exchanged knowing glances. "well..." the demon began, but minho cut him off.

"early this morning, jisung came to our room because he discovered something that would help break your curse." seungmin's eyes widened as he remembered the deal he made with the fire demon.  _with all of the crazy things happening, it completely slipped my mind!_  "there's a spell in the book that we brought that might just solve your problem. however, we had no idea what any of it meant, so we went to the library to do some research and see if we could figure it out. we would've taken you, but you were out cold, so we figured it would be best to let you sleep."

jisung nodded fervently. "but we couldn't decipher its meaning, so we decided to come down and ask for some help. however..." his lower lip jutted out. "hyunjin and felix are gone, and hyunjin's leaving tonight, so the best options we've got are now gone! how are we supposed to figure out this spell if the only wizards in the house have left?"

a thump echoed from behind them. everyone's heads turned to see changbin enter the sitting room from the stairwell. he froze seeing three pairs of eyes on him. "what?"

"what are  _you_  doing here?" minho exclaimed just as jisung cried, "i'm so glad you're here!"

changbin was silent. then he quickly turned back around. "if i had known that you idiots would try to talk to me, i never would've come down here," he muttered, rushing up the stairs and disappearing from sight.

"damn it!" jisung cursed. "he could've helped us decipher the spell! he's the only one left around here that knows magic!"

"i highly doubt he would help us figure out a spell that would break the curse that he put on me himself," seungmin said with a slight sigh. "how is he able to leave his room, anyway? didn't hyunjin put a spell on his door or something?" two shrugs were what he got in response.  _something here doesn't make sense..._

"maybe we don't have to let him know that the spell is for you," minho proposed. "we could tell him that hyunjin gave us a spell to decipher for fun and beg for his help to solve it. we could barter something in return, like one of my cakes or one of seungmin's clothing items."

jisung rubber his chin. "that might actually work," he mused. "how about we go and try it?"

and they did. the three boys knocked on changbin's door, opening it after receiving no response. the warlock was on his bed reading a book and his head snapped up as soon as he heard the creak of his door. "what do you want?" he snapped. "don't you know it's rude to enter if you're not welcome?"

"and don't you know that you're a prisoner?" jisung shot back, silencing the man whose eyes narrowed dangerously. waves of anger practically radiated off of him, and seungmin gulped.

 _this is bad,_  thought the tailor.  _if he's irritated, he's probably not going to agree to help us._  he decided to step in and try to diffuse the situation. "we just wanted to talk to you," he said, hoping the fear in his voice didn't show. "we need your help."

he explained their "situation", and surprisingly enough, changbin didn't immediately reject it. he did, however, snort when seungmin was finished. "as much as i love bribery, yours is too poor for me. i want something else in return." his eyes glinted as he spoke which caused a shiver to run down seungmin's spine.

"what do you want?" minho asked, and changbin's lips twitched upwards ever so slightly.

"to go outside. alone."

jisung's brows furrowed. "you know we can't do that," he complained. "we don't have that kind of authori—"

"just one day." changbin was clearly adamant about his demand. "i'm sick and tired of being cooped up in this castle. besides, the day in alberia wasn't enjoyable because of all of the people there. i just want to go to a quiet place for a day. is that too much to ask?"

"yes," jisung muttered, and minho slapped him on the arm.

"what if we allow you to go but only with one person?" the baker proposed. changbin didn't speak for a while and seungmin thought that he didn't hear the question until he gave them a slight dip of his head.

"fine. but just one. and i get to choose where to go and who i'm taking."

grins broke out on the trio's faces. "great!" jisung cheered. "so, about the spell, it's a little— well, a lot— complicated. that's why we need your help."

changbin scoffed. "no spell is too difficult for me," he claimed, obviously confident in his abilities. that is, until minho recited it for him.

"...what the fuck?"


	17. THE WARLOCK'S IRRITATION

**_"GO AND CATCH A FALLING STAR,_ **   
**_GET WITH CHILD A MANDRAKE ROOT._ **   
**_TELL ME WHERE ALL THE PAST YEARS ARE,_ **   
**_OR WHO CLEFT THE DEVIL'S FOOT._ **

**_TEACH ME TO HEAR THE MERMAID'S SINGING,_ **   
**_OR TO KEEP OFF ENVY'S STINGING,_ **   
**_AND FIND_ **   
**_WHAT WIND_ **   
**_SERVES TO ADVANCE AN HONEST MIND."_ **

**_DECIDE WHAT THIS IS ABOUT._ **   
**_WRITE A SECOND VERSE YOURSELF._ **   
  
  


"please tell me that your 'what the fuck' was a good 'what the fuck'," jisung groaned.

changbin narrowed his eyes at him. "when is 'what the fuck' ever used in a good way?" he snapped. "this spell... it's extremely advanced. you need to decipher the lines first and then gather the correct ingredients to make it. according to the note at the bottom, you can even add a second verse if you'd like. that would make the spell all the more powerful." he rubbed his chin in thought. "i'll have to think about this some more. why would that wizard give you a spell like this anyway?"

changbin was no idiot. he knew by the way that the trio's eyes darted back and forth that they were lying to him. however, as long as their little fib could earn him a day of freedom— and maybe a second chance to escape the castle— he couldn't care less.

"well... he couldn't solve it himself, so he asked for our help!" the baker piped up. changbin decided it wasn't worth his time to try and remember his name.

"so he gave a complicated spell to a baker, a tailor, and a demon— all who can't do magic?"

it went silent and changbin had to force a smug grin down.  _caught._  "well, it doesn't matter, does it?" the tailor— seungmin— asked. "all we have to do is figure out what each line means and collect the ingredients the spell calls for. hyunjin will be the one actually casting the spell."

"yes, yes. i was just messing with you." changbin abruptly slammed the book shut, causing the others to jump. "have any of you solved any of the lines yet?"

the baker—  _minsung? no, i'm getting that confused with jisung_ — nodded. "it's not much, but we've figured out that we need a child to retrieve us a mandrake root and some way to bottle up a siren's song. both of those are difficult enough, though; where in the world are we supposed to get a mandrake root?"

"did somebody say mandrake root?" chan asked, popping his head through the doorway. changbin's face soured.  _there are too many people here for my liking._ when the pale kid with dimples appeared next to chan, he nearly screamed in frustration.  _why does everyone have to be in my room?_

"we're trying to decipher a spell and we need a mandrake root. sorry if we disturbed you," jisung apologized sheepishly. "i know you two like to have some alone time after... uh... yeah."

 _what about_ ** _my_** _alone time?_  "no worries, mate," chan responded. "jeongin got hungry so we were about to head downstairs for a bite to eat when we overheard your conversation. we can help you if you'd like."

the baker arched an eyebrow. "unless you can pull a mandrake out of thin air, i don't—" chan zipped away and returned with a mandrake root in hand. "what the hell?"

"a while back," chan explained, "i was doing jeongin's laundry when this fell out of his pocket. i took it to hyunjin and he told me what it was. i don't know what it's used for— other than smelling absolutely horrid— but if you need it, you can have it. neither of us needs it."

changbin scoffed. "it's useless. we need to get a mandrake root from a child, not some half-blood who is well out of that age range. now, get out of my room!"

"wait!" everyone's eyes shifted to the boy who accompanied chan. he shrank back slightly when he noticed this, inching behind chan almost defensively. "um... well, before i came here, i used to live with a warlock. he's the one who cursed me." his voice wobbled a bit and changbin scrunched up his nose.  _pathetic._  "he would sometimes feed me this— mandrake, you call it?— and it would make me feel good. before he abandoned me, i stole a piece from his lair. it was a long time ago, back when i could still be considered a child." he tilted his head to the side. "does that count? i kept it with me for a while, but i first took it when i was very young."

"that should work!" jisung exclaimed excitedly. he reached out to take the root but his hand was slapped away by the baker. "ow! what?"

"don't touch it! what if you burn it to bits?" he hissed, causing the demon to roll his eyes.

"and what if  _you_  accidentally put it in a cake?"

"oh, please! i'm not  _that_  idiotic!"

"it sure seems that way—"

"i'll take it." seungmin plucked the mandrake out of chan's hand and quickly pocketed it before anyone could protest. "now that we've got one ingredient, where are we going to find the others?"

it was then that felix burst into the room. "come outside! hyunjin and i found a merman!"

_...you've got to be fucking kidding._

to changbin's relief, everyone quickly stampeded out of the room, a voice yelling, "grab the magic conch!  _grab the magic conch!"_  changbin exhaled in relief and sank further into his springy mattress, glad to finally have some peace and quiet.  _the things i do to escape,_  he thought, closing his eyes.

about twenty seconds passed before an awkward cough caused his eyes to fly open once more.

"uh... morning, changbin!" it was felix, who had remained at the doorway after everyone had left.

changbin didn't respond, choosing instead to shoot him a glare which caused the young wizard to wilt.  _why the hell is he still here? shouldn't he be out catching mermen with the rest of them?_ it wasn't that the warlock hated the freckled boy— well, maybe he did— it was just that his presence was teetering on the edge of being unbearable. despite being an adult he still acted like a child and hadn't an ounce of maturity in him. not only that, but he was always  _smiling_  and for some reason that made changbin's frown deepen. someone like that surely hadn't experienced all of the hardships the world had to offer.

"...what do you want?" he finally spat. he was tired of dealing with people. he had had more social interaction in the last hour than he had had in years.

if it were possible for someone to wilt even further, felix would've right then and there. "i... i'm really sorry! please forgive me!" suddenly he was kneeling on the floor face-down in a prayer-like position. "i know you're probably really mad at me, but i promise it won't happen again!"

 _what?_ "i haven't the faintest clue what you're talking about."

felix lifted his face from the floor, a hopeful look on his face. "so you didn't notice that i never brought you your breakfast this morning? ah— drat!" he smacked his forehead on the ground. "now you know!"

changbin rubbed his temples in annoyance. "i could care less that you forgot my breakfast," he seethed. "what i  _do_  care about is the fact that you're still in my room.  _get out!"_

"wait! i brought you food, though!" felix reached down and picked up a silver tray that held a few small muffins, a bowl of fruit, and a small blue object that looked like a crystal. he held it out to him with a grin. "i figured that you hadn't eaten yet since you're a bit antisocial, but i suppose you proved that last bit to be false! when i arrived, it was like a party up here!"

changbin was about to say that no, he wasn't hungry and no, it most  _definitely_  was not a party when his stomach growled embarrassingly loud. he was quick to send felix a sharp look when the apprentice snorted and reluctantly held out his hands to receive the platter. "don't think you're getting any thanks for this," he said. felix shrugged.

"i didn't expect one, anyway."

the wizard plopped himself onto changbin's bed without his permission and inched towards him. the warlock tensed as he came closer and was about to tell him off when felix broke off a small piece of each food item and popped it into his mouth. changbin watched with narrowed eyes as the boy chewed and swallowed, then opened his mouth with an  _"ah"_  revealing that there was no food left.

when he had first become a prisoner in hyunjin's castle, changbin hadn't eaten anything in fear that it was poisoned. chan, his original "caretaker" (if one could even call it that) never bothered with small talk and simply left his meals in his room for him three times a day. felix, on the other hand, insisted on meaningless chit-chat; in the process, he had found out that changbin refused to eat, and thus a new tradition was born: before every meal, felix would eat a piece of changbin's food to prove it wasn't poisoned, and then warlock would eat.

after completing his inspection, changbin relaxed and quickly wolfed down the food. as he ate, the boy next to him stayed silent, which was very uncharacteristic of him to do. changbin didn't think much of it, though, and finished his meal in silence.

felix finally opened his mouth as soon as he took his last bite. honestly, he should've seen it coming. "so, today you're going to begin training me, right?"

 _shit._  changbin had almost forgotten the deal the two had made. thinking back on it, it was idiotic of him to accept something that would not only require lots of effort but also more hours spent around the apprentice. nevertheless, he had agreed and had gained a bit more freedom than before, so it wasn't complete rubbish.

"i suppose," he replied without much vigor. "although i can't imagine that hyunjin would approve of us casting cur— spells in the castle."

"i know! don't worry, i know the perfect place." before he could object, felix grabbed changbin by the arm and yanked him out of his room and all the way down the staircase. the warlock was so caught off guard by the sudden contact that he hadn't even realized they had made it to the door until he saw jisung standing there, pouting.

"what's wrong, sung?" felix asked, spinning the multi-coloured wheel. "aren't you supposed to be merman-hunting with the others?"

"hyunjin said i wasn't allowed to leave," the demon grumbled. "i have to stay and open the door when they come back. it's not fair!"

"nice, nice." it was clear that felix wasn't paying attention to his friend's ramblings. the wheel landed on a lavender sliver and felix pushed the door open to reveal...nothing but grass. "well, we've got to go. see you, mate!" he quickly tugged changbin outside despite jisung's protests, the door clicking shut behind them. turning around, changbin found that the castle had somehow transformed into a tree trunk that stood upright, a shabby wooden door attached to it.

the two of them were standing in a field that stretched as far as the eye could see. stalks of wheat grew sporadically in small clumps and a light breeze blew by that caused them all to ripple in a hypnotic fashion. near them were a few small hills; atop one was a gigantic cedar tree, its branches reaching outwards as if it were trying to feel as much of the air as possible. it was quite grand, especially for a mere tree, and changbin couldn't help but let his gaze drift towards it. other than that, though, the place they were in was relatively empty. it was the perfect place to go to if you intended on making a mess without fear—  _or if you are a wizard that is dreadful at using magic,_  changbin added in his head.

"this is the field of falling stars," felix explained. "hyunjin used to take me here whenever he would train me. it's open and empty so i can make as much of a mess as i want!"

 _my thoughts exactly_ _,_ changbin thought with a nod. "good, because the things i'm going to teach you will require a  _lot_  of trial and error. your muscles will ache. your limits will be tested. you'll want to quit, but i won't allow it." he lifted his chin. "this is your final warning. are you sure you want to become the apprentice of seo changbin, warlock of darkness?"

in all honestly, changbin expected him to turn tail and return to the castle. what he didn't expect was for felix to hold his head high and shout, "yes, master!"

"then let's begin. also, don't call me master."

"yes, bin!"

"...never mind, master is fine."


	18. THE TAILOR'S BRAVERY

**SEUNGMIN THOUGHT**  that he had seen everything known to man during his stay in hyunjin's castle. however, he had never seen a merman try to lure his friends into the ocean before.

well, "merman" wasn't exactly the right term. the creature hyunjin and felix had found was actually a siren, although nobody realized it at first, too caught up with the being's good looks. he was undoubtedly attractive in every way, shape, and form, with a chiseled body and tousled golden hair. his sunkissed skin was complimented nicely by his green tail.  _it's almost the same shade as hyunjin's eyes,_  seungmin realized,  _although hyunjin suits the colour a bit better. maybe i should make him something green later on..._

sirens were extremely dangerous and  _very_  different from merpeople. for one, sirens liked to lure passersby and sailors to their deaths by using the magic in their voices to attract them. they would then strip them of all they owned before killing them in a grisly manner. merpeople were much more peaceful and friendly— seungmin had actually met a mermaid named tzuyu in the river that flowed next to market chipping, and the two quickly became friends. (well, for a day, at least, since she had to return back to her lake home.)

the redhead had heard legends of sirens existing but had never seen for himself the true power of it. however, as soon as the siren opened his mouth, it was like some sort of magic had washed over the entire group, putting them into a trance-like state.

except for one.

seungmin watched in shock as everyone began shuffling towards the water's edge with a glazed-over look in their eyes.  _what's going on?_  he thought.  _why is everyone going but me? why aren't i being affected?_ even hyunjin, a top-tier wizard, was entranced by the siren's song, further confusing seungmin.  _hyunjin, chan, jeongin, and minho are all under the siren's spell...but not me? how is this possible? how am i safe?_  

he shook his head rapidly.  _no. there's no time to wonder about that. right now, i need to figure out how to save my friends._

glancing around, seungmin spotted the conch shell that chan had grabbed right before they had exited the house, saying, "we're going to need this". seungmin didn't know why they would need a shell, but since it was a magical item, it would be more useful than him in any situation. he ran and quickly snatched it away from chan, surprised at how easily it slipped from his fingers.  _he was so strong before, and now he's so weak... it's unnatural._  

the redhead turned the conch over in his hands, trying to figure out how it worked. there was nothing special to be found on it— no design, no inscription. nothing at all. it was just an ordinary shell with a pale pink hue.  _why is it that every magical item always looks normal on the outside?_  he thought frustratedly.  _what do you do with a conch shell, anyway? listen to the ocean?_  he brought it up to his ear and nearly jumped out of his skin— instead of soothing sounds, he was greeted with harrowing screams. 

 _maybe not_ , he thought with a shudder. _what else? what else can you do with a conch? um... blow into it?_

flipping the shell over, seungmin found a small opening and quickly pressed his lips to it, not expecting much. (frankly, he had no idea what he was doing.) however, when he blew, the shrill screams he had heard earlier streamed out of the conch shell, causing him to drop it to the sand.  _queen of ingary,_  he thought with wide eyes,  _what just happened?_

it appeared he wasn't the only one affected by the screams. the siren had stopped singing and plugged his ears with a grimace, eyes squeezed shut. this caused his friends to halt mere inches from the water's edge— too close to the ocean for seungmin's liking, but too far to be caught by the siren.

the tailor's mind swirled frantically as he tried to come up with a plan. he only had a few moments before the siren would go back to singing and then his friends would be gone for good. but what could he do to save them? 

he had no magic. 

he had no fighting skills. 

he was just normal and average in every way.

so, he called out to someone who he knew wasn't. "hyunjin!"

the green-eyed man snapped his head in seungmin's direction. he blinked a couple of times in confusion, clearly wondering what had happened. then a look of realization dawned upon his face. "siren," he whispered, and seungmin had barely dipped his head in confirmation before the wizard took off like a bolt of lightning. he whisked the conch shell out of the tailor's hands and blew into it, seemingly unfazed by the ear-piercing screams that came forth from it. the red-haired man by his side covered his ears as the siren cried out, clearly in pain from the sharp noise. seungmin felt like his ears were going to bleed— thankfully, the voices began to quiet down, but hyunjin kept going until nothing but the sound of silence was heard. as soon as it was over, he ripped the shell from his lips and panted heavily, evidently out of breath. 

"tailor," he wheezed, "i am going to do something, but in order for it to work, you mustn't say a word. can you do that for me?" seungmin gulped and nodded his head, too afraid to speak. "good. now..." hyunjin muttered a few unintelligible words and two bubbles quickly materialized over his ears; at that exact same moment, seungmin felt as if there was something covering his own ears, and he reached up to try and figure out what it was. before he could, though, hyunjin slapped his hands away and pointed to his own ears before pointing at seungmin.

 _oh,_  the tailor thought,  _i must have bubble ears too. but why?_ he watched as the siren opened his mouth; however, no sound came out. then he realized that he wasn't able to hear anything at all. then it dawned on him that the reason he had bubble ears was that hyunjin was protectinghim from hearing the siren's song and falling under its spell.

a fragment of distrust melted away inside of seungmin's heart.  _he didn't have to do that for me... perhaps he's a bit more caring than i originally thought._

hyunjin placed the conch to his lips as the siren continued to sing. after a while, a fearful look appeared on the creature's face, and he clawed at his throat frantically. seungmin noticed how the steps of his friends began to slow to a stop. they looked around, perplexed, clearly wondering what was happening, before turning their attention to the siren. seungmin didn't need to hear to be able to feel the hostile energy radiating off of chan and minho— they were  _furious_. seeing this, the siren quickly turned tail and fled, and hyunjin let his arms fall. 

he faced to seungmin and said something with a small smile. the tailor resisted the urge to smack him and go, "i still have bubble ears!" (although smacking a powerful wizard would  _definitely_  end with his demise.) thankfully, hyunjin saw this himself and popped them. like a river, sound flooded into his ears, and he had never been more thankful to be able to hear than at that moment. it was like he was waking up for the first time. "apologies. i said you can talk now."

the words had barely left hyunjin's mouth when seungmin began to shoot off questions. "what just happened? what did you do with the conch? is everyone alright? where's the siren?"

"i captured the siren's voice in the shell and saved everyone. i emptied out the voices i had held in there before and inhaled into the conch to catch the siren's song. yes, everyone is fine. gone, i presume." hyunjin looked mildly amused. "if you're done, i actually have a question of my own." the tailor nodded. "how were you able to break me out of the siren's spell?"

seungmin didn't have an answer. he didn't even know— in the moment, all he could focus on was his desperation to save his friends. he had had complete faith in the fact that hyunjin would be able to get them out of their predicament if he weren't spelled, so he called out to him with those feelings in his heart. he didn't think that it would work, but it did. "honestly, i'm not sure. i just knew i needed you— well, your help— so i yelled your name and you heard me."

hyunjin furrowed his brow. "so you were fully conscious the whole time, even when the siren was singing?"

"well, i just assumed i was out of his range."

hyunjin tilted his head slightly. "tailor, are you aware that a siren's song is designed to enchant all that can hear it? as long as you have working ears, you should be under its spell."

a sinking feeling opened up in seungmin's stomach. "wait... but... i wasn't affected..."

"exactly."

all of the questions he had earlier poured into his head in a dizzying stream of confusion. "how can that be? it's not like i was spelled— well, besides my curse— and i don't have any powers, either. i'm just normal!"

hyunjin brought his fingers to his lips and tapped them lightly. seungmin thought it would be wiser to focus on that rather than the fact that  _the_  hwang hyunjin was standing bare-chested before him. it wasn't. "clearly you're not. there's something we're missing here. something important." he winced suddenly and his hands shot to his chest. "however, that will have to wait. i have more pressing matters to attend to right now." 

he made a motion to leave but paused and turned back around. "tailor... have you seen my shirt?"

it took all of seungmin's strength to not let his gaze leave the wizard's face. "no."

"very well, then." he approached a large rock that had a door on it, something that seungmin had not noticed in his panicked state. "will you promise me one thing, tailor?"

the redhead hesitated. making deals with magic users often led to tragedy of some sort— nevertheless, he responded with a quiet "yes", figuring he owed hyunjin  _some_  compensation for saving his life.

"let felix know i'm sorry." with that, he disappeared through the door, closing it behind him.

it was the saddest seungmin had ever seen him.

 


End file.
